Night Queen
by HisanaKurohana
Summary: Allina hadn't expected to die young. She didn't think anything existed past the known plane of existence, either. What she's about to find out is, even after you lose the game of Life, you're still fighting to survive on the other side. Unfortunately, it's her against Hueco Mundo...and the Soul Society, too.
1. Chapter 1 : Beginning

Chains rattled and the swing set creaked. The sun was dipping low over the trees and nearby buildings, bathing everything in oranges and stretching deep shadows over the playground. Most of the children had already left, led away by their parents or older siblings. A few stragglers still lingered nearby, running around the jungle-gym or chasing each other down a slide. A few adults hovered in the shade nearby at picnic tables, huddled close in pairs of two or three. Mostly, they had their backs to her, muttering lowly. Occasionally one of them glanced her way, but when they realized she'd caught them looking their heads would swivel back around, bobbing as they leaned in just that much closer to continue their muted conversations. Allina kept sitting there alone on her swing, hunched over slightly, short-cropped black hair tickling her neck in the slight breeze. She barely pumped her legs at all. Didn't care to, since she'd be leaving here soon too. Alone.

A small boy walked up nearby, glanced at her, then quickly ran to his mother, who picked the boy up, glanced at her, and hastily walked out of the park. She quietly watched as they wandered away, down a sidewalk and across the street, not waiting for cars since the intersection was not very busy. A simple four-way stop for the few drivers who took the two crossing roads. She didn't watch the stout woman turn the corner out of sight, barely noticed the boy peek over his mother's shoulder back at her one last time- and shudder, ducking down and nuzzling into the woman's hair.

Allina sighed and pushed off the swing, hearing the gravel crunch under her shoes as she walked away. The laughter of the few kids who'd remained here immediately died down, and she caught them out of the corner of her eye peeking out over the slide at her or staring through the yellow bars of the play set. Picking up her bright blue backpack, she slung it over one shoulder and started walking out of the playground. She unzipped the front of her backpack, pulled out an MP3, unraveled the earphones, and put a bud in one ear while leaving the other out. She pulled out a pocketknife and stuffed it into her jacket pocket next, then re-zipped her backpack. As she pressed play on the MP3, a car whizzed by her, the wind ruffling her skirts as she glanced around, looked behind her, eyed alleyways and kept an ear sharp for anything approaching. She had to be this careful considering no one would be home and expecting her until at least one in the morning. And then, it wasn't like either of her parents would actually check on her. They'd be too drunk from all the partying.

She passed a large building made of warm-toned bricks, a steep roof, and a cross on top. Several cars were parked there already, one white van returning, many young faces peeking out at her. Climbing roses decorated one side of the building, a weeping willow standing on the other side, and bushes lined the walls. A walkway followed outside the flowerbed area the bushes grew in, lined on either side by pink rocks with strange crystal-looking things growing from them. A man in a grey suit was standing at the double doors on top of the paved steps, and he gazed blankly at her before smiling to the approaching children and their driver, greeting them as they walked inside. At the end of their parking lot was a road, which she turned down and followed a winding narrow path between several houses. She walked into the backyard through a gate, locked it, and slipped between fences covered in vines on her way to the house. This was simply to prevent anyone from seeing her home, since everyone knew no adults were there.

Once in the back door, Al removed her shoes and coat, then carried her backpack with her as she quietly padded up the steps, striped knee-high socks the only thing she still had on for footwear. A large yet somehow still thin calico bounded up the carpeted steps behind her, rubbing against her leg as it raced past her before stopping to sit on the top step and stare down at her with its large green eyes. It watched her approaching, yawning and stretching before running down the hall and pressing her bedroom door open with its nose. She followed it in, put her backpack down on her bed, made sure Iris had food and water, then patted the cat on the head before turning and walking out of the room. She pulled the ear buds out and turned off her MP3, only distantly realizing she hadn't even listened to what had played, had no idea what any of the songs that had just blasted in her left ear were. With a sigh, she pocketed it.

When she passed her brother's open door, her nose wrinkled. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that the room was dark because he had the curtains pulled over the window. Dirty clothes sat in piles on the floor, his dresser drawers were all pulled out, and his fan was going. She could see his foot sticking out over the side of the bed, grey socks halfway off. Even from several feet away, she could smell the dirty clothes, sweat, and other boy's-room-without-parental-moderation smells. Oddly enough, she was just glad that he wasn't actually awake. If he did wake, though…she may find herself hiding on the roof. Again. Hopefully, her parents weren't the only ones currently in a drunken stupor. She walked to the staircase, cat following her as she turned and crouched down, looking Iris in the eyes.

"Let's see if he's left any food, shall we?" She smiled lightly, voice a monotone as she ran her hands gently over the cat's head, rubbing behind her ears. She then straightened and speed walked down the stairs. Iris was on her heels the whole time, following her around into the hallway, past her parents' closed bedroom door. Soon Al's feet were padding against the tiled floor of the kitchen. She poked her head into the pantry, pulling a string until a dim light bulb came on and illuminated everything for her. Then she looked around before turning the light back off, a box of cheese crackers in hand.

She walked into the living room, seeing that the thick beige curtains were drawn over the windows. Good, meant she didn't have to expect any company. She flopped down on the leather sofa and opened the box of crackers, flipping on the TV. Slowly eating each cracker one at a time, starting at the corners and nibbling until they were round-shaped and then popping the whole thing into her mouth, she flipped through the channels. American football played across the screen, a Spanish drama, opera, The Little Vampire, a dizzying array of colors and abstract lines called cartoons. No, no, no, no, and no. After a while of flipping through, she switched back to Little Vampire, snacking as she stared at a blank space of wall above the family portrait featuring her family.

Her father's dark, clean-cut features, hair chopped so short it was like a buzz cut, three months later. Grown out, but not really hair just yet. Her mother, a thin woman with long black hair framing an oval face, purple eyes peering through the thick lenses of black thin-rimmed glasses. They had their hands on the shoulders of two kids; a black-haired girl with a hood pulled up over her head, hands in her pockets, faded grey eyes gazing calmly at the viewer. No smile. Her brother had chin-length layered hair, mostly black with hints of chocolatey brown. He was tan, eyes a pretty dusk-blue color. He was smiling, but the expression was plastered on and clearly fake. Commemorated forever in their living room…the sofa they all sat on was the very same upon which Al now lounged. Upon request and the offering of a little more money, they'd been painted in a far grander looking room, however. A room they'd only seen a photograph of, in a house they'd never been in. In the end, the portrait was as wholly fake as her family. It fit right in.

"Allie?"

Her head snapped around at the sudden intrusion, and she sighed. Leaning against the open doorway was her brother, Micah. Though there were faint hints of his original hair, it was longer and shaggier, ash blonde now. The moron must've gotten drunk and bleached it. Traces of vomit decorated his chin, his pants were unbuttoned and the fly was open, sagging. His shirt was actually torn, from the v-neck all the way down to his navel. He had a jacket on, but it almost wasn't, material bunched up, hanging by the elbow of one arm and the wrist of the other. Both his feet were bare, and she could see one of his socks behind him on the floor. Funny that Al hadn't heard him coming, but then, she hadn't been paying attention. Stupid of her…

After a few beats of silence - if you don't count the noise made by the television, anyway - he dug into his pocket, holding up a green phone by its charm. "Your buddy called me earlier. Ak-kuwhateverhernamewas. Apparently… your phone is off? Anyway, didn't expect you to be home tonight." His words were slightly slurred, and he stuttered. She wasn't sure he was really drunk though, perhaps just hung over. A bit.

As she watched, he slowly turned, still leaning against the door frame, then shrugged away from it, taking a step before falling flat on his face. Iris jumped up at the sound of flesh hitting tile and ran behind a curtain. Al turned and leaned over the back of the couch, peering at him. He didn't move, and she slowly began easing up over the sofa, leaning far enough over that her belly brushed against the top. She saw he was breathing, but there was no relief. She still felt tense as hell. After a moment, she went into a crouching position, then lifted herself up as far as she could with her hands on the back of the sofa, and swung her legs over, extending them as far as she could before letting her toes touch the carpet, then rolling contact to her whole feet, bending her legs, crouching as she released the sofa, and then twisted so that she faced her brother instead of away. During that twist, she swung a leg out around the other and straightened, stepping immediately forward, never breaking stride.

She kinda wanted to kick him. Okay, more than just kinda. She really wanted to kick the idiot, especially since he'd come and bothered her for something so trivial. It wouldn't have taken long for Al to get bored and call her friends. And Acky - or Luna Articune Awa, since that was her real name - would have been first on her list. Micah could've just stayed his drunk..err, behind in bed. As she crouched down beside him, started pulling him over onto his back, and then slipped her arms under his head and shoulders to slowly start pulling him towards the staircase, she marveled at the fact he'd even managed to get down the stairs. Seeing the bruises appearing on his arms, she suddenly realized he probably hadn't, and she just didn't hear the noise. Weird. That was one important message to the drunk boy apparently.

Once she got him safely tucked away back in his bed and closed his door, she walked down the hall to her room and dug her phone out of her backpack. After waiting for a minute, Al's phone was on and she was dialing Awa-chan's number. It rang. And rang. And rang. And when it was done with that, it rang some more. She flipped her phone shut with a simple flick of her wrist when it went to voicemail, and had been about to pocket the device when it started vibrating in her hand. She rolled her eyes, flipping it open as she snapped it quickly to her ear, spun and plopped onto her bed. "Yo."

"Hey, sorry mom was yelling for dishes and the dirty clothes out of my room." The reply was immediate, rushed, and a tad breathless. "You free to hang out, or are you on drunk duty?"

Al glanced at her door, sitting back slightly and swinging her legs, then let out a breath. Her gaze focused on the curtains in her window, dark from the lack of light on the other side. "Give me thirty minutes."

"Alright. Get packed and get over here. We gotta plan for this graduation thing, I'm calling Tennie to." Click. Al glanced at her phone, the blinking stopped timer that indicated the ended call. That was how most of her phone conversations went. Quick, to the point. Done faster than she could even think to end it, and she really didn't mind. Talking to people…annoyed her. So, after sitting and quietly staring ahead, she popped to her feet. She could sit in silence all night, not remembering to move until she heard her parents walking up the stairs. And she was positive it would irritate the living hell out of Awa if she let herself space out like that.


	2. Chapter 2 : Terrors

Allina sat in a small room, with only a television, bed, and dresser in it. That dresser was small, low to the ground with several long drawers. It had an enormous mirror on it as well. There were small hammocks hanging from the ceiling in every corner, overflowing with fluffy stuffed animals. Enormous dream catchers with pictures of wolves as the centers hung randomly throughout the room. The single source of light was from the overhead fan, and blackout curtains hung over the one window. Drawings were taped to the walls, and even the door itself had its own decorations, done in paint, with drawings taped over that.

Awa sat on the bed, clicking away on her phone. Undoubtedly talking to Al's cousin to make up for the fact that the woman wasn't here. Al herself was sitting propped against the wall closest to the closet without touching the actual door, seeing as it wasn't secured to anything and the slightest pressure could send it toppling over. She was wrapped in a tan blanket, decorated with an image depicting a man riding a horse in mid-buck. Wrapped around her under that was a blue blanket, and clutched to her body was a pillow. Beside her sat a pink suitcase with lime green and yellow lines decorating it, and on the side was a thick amount of duct tape. She's had that thing since she was seven… It was beaten and a tad dirty.

"So what's up? You eat yet?" Awa's voice was a tad distracted and bored. Doubtlessly, she'd already eaten. This was the usual line of questioning that happened during the start of their visits. _You eat yet? How are things? What do ya wanna do?_ Eventually, though, they'd start drawing, or Awa would take her paints and canvases out, or just the paints. She had needles she kept in the paint box, along with thread. She tended to sew her fingers together, whether someone was watching or not. That, or she'd cut X's into her hands with the needles. She also kept knives between the mattresses of her bed, and would press the tips under her cuticles or dance the blades along her hands. One time she nearly took a finger off, and Al had to find her a rag to help stop the bleeding. There was still a scar, a line of paler skin that ran horizontally across the finger.

"I'm good, thanks. So what about our graduation plans? Doing something special? Like…dying the football teams' uniforms pink or spray painting all over their field in the middle of the night? Maybe throwing Molotov cocktails through the windows of the Middle School, or…a party?" Al leaned forward, hitting her suitcase so it would fall forward, then unzipping it and pulling out her sketchpad. She heard a short laugh, but the clicking and buzzing of the other girl's phone never ceased. She remembered the one time they'd lain there in the dark, texting each other from three feet away and grinned. Sure, they could've just talked, but they didn't. They just messaged each other for hours before finally getting up and going to eat. Well, Awa had gotten up; Al had laid there on her pallet and rolled, hungry but unwilling to abandon the comfortable warmth of her wad of cushions and blankets. It was an unreasonable fear of ants and spiders crawling around near her head that had finally gotten her up. Well, that, and Awa's threat to stab her. That had a little influence on her final decision to shove the blankets away and get up as well.

"Or we could have Sherri come over and shove her into the pool." That sounded like a good idea as well, and Sher could probably use the bath, knowing her. Though Al's skin crawled at the idea of touching her… Not that they weren't friends, the girl was just nasty, and Al couldn't get over the time she'd looked over at her while sitting in the cafeteria one morning to see a bug crawling in her greasy hair. That had freaked her the hell out.

Allina found herself momentarily glancing at the window, hearing something outside. Awa didn't seem to have heard it, though that wasn't much of a surprise. She probably didn't hear anything while texting with Tennie. Al sometimes wondered if they didn't have some sort of weird thing going behind her back, since they were always together, and if not then they kept up a constant message stream. It was a little irritating, since Al herself could barely ever get a response from either of them anymore. Tennie never answered her phone, and Awa's responses were dwindling. It was…frustrating, since Al had been the one to introduce them, to feel like they were both completely forgetting about her because they were so caught up in each other. Ungrateful wretches, really. During Junior High, they'd ignored her for an entire year. A YEAR. At lunch, before school, on weekends…never answered either of their phones or acknowledged her presence in the room, but whenever she called the actual house she would always be told they were hanging out. The two girls had even taken to lying to her.

For instance, Tennie had told her that her mother was sick so she couldn't hang out one weekend. That Saturday evening, she called the house to check and see how she was doing. Her mother had answered, and had no idea that she was apparently sick. She did mention that Ten was actually at Awa's house and had been since Friday afternoon. Al had been so mad after that…and hadn't forgiven them, though they both still denied the lie so she didn't feel the need.

Her teeth ground together, irritation bubbling steadily. _Okay, bad thought path_. She sighed and flipped open her sketchpad, digging for a pencil. Starting a single line as was how she usually began to draw, she started sketching out a tall woman in a kimono, mid-dance, lengthy hair tied back yet still reaching well past her back. She wondered if she could pull off a background, but instead decided not to risk ruining the whole image with something she'd never been able to pull off very well. Minutes passed in silence, aside from the dance of her pencil on the drawing paper and the click of Awa's phone. Eventually, the hum of a TV being turned on joined the mix of sounds, and cartoons played across a screen.

"Girls?" There was a knock at the door. The shifting of fabrics told her Awa was getting up, and after a moment she was thumping over to the door, pulling it open and standing in the doorway. Brennan, her dad, pushed the door open anyway. "Not planning world domination again, are you?"

"No, dad." Awa shook her head, grinning like a little devil the whole time. "That's tomorrow's discussion."

After two days passed, Al finally went home. Well, 'home', if she was honest. She practically lived at Awa's, whenever she wasn't being preoccupied with Tennie - _bad thought path, dang it_ - and wasn't really comfortable anywhere else. There weren't many others she enjoyed being around. She could have stayed with Harriet, but she didn't enjoy the stuffy house her other cousin lived in, even if she adored the girl. She also didn't want Harriet at her house, for fear of her having to deal with Al's family. NO ONE deserved that kind of torture, especially not a friend.

She had to get ready for graduation, since it was tonight. Awa was picking her up and taking her to the ceremony, to make up for the fact she couldn't count on her family. She walked in the front gate, not afraid of anyone seeing her today. That was when she noticed the car parked in the driveway, and her stomach did a little flop. She drew in a breath, holding it, dread curling through her as she slowed her pace to the door. No rush to get in. But she caught something moving at the window, and before she got to the stairs leading up to the front door of her house the front door and screen door came flying open, her mother stumbling around and then leaning back against it.

"Welcome home, honey," her mother's voice, unslurred. "Where's your friends?"

"Home, getting ready for graduation. Like I should be." She tapped quickly up the five steps onto the deck, shouldering past the woman quickly. Not fast enough, though, because slender fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged her back, door slamming shut behind her.

"And where the hell have you been?" With the door shut and no potential audience around, her voice took on an angry tone, and Al's blood ran cold. "I've been looking for you all day. Your father is sick with worry! You're nearly out of school, you should know better than to go running off without telling anyone by now."

_Yeah, nearly out of school. Meaning, I don't answer to you anymore, because I'm also nearly a legal adult and out of this house._ She pressed her lips together, knowing any reply would make her situation worse. Though her silence would probably still provoke the crazy woman. She let herself get tugged through the house. "Where have you been? That rat Awa's house again? I've told you I hate that stupid bitch. All your friends are nasty. Why the hell do you keep hanging out with them? They treat you like shit and are just a bunch of fucking lesbians. Is that what you like? Are you a lesbian? If I EVER catch you with a girl, I'll beat the shit out of you! Why do you do this to us? Us, the only people who care about you. Who love you. Go chasing people who don't care if you even wake up tomorrow, and walk all over us. Who have fought for you. FOUGHT, Allina!"

Al opened her mouth, but her throat closed. About the time she was about to shut it, a force slammed against the side of her head, sending her whole body spinning as her teeth clicked together and she slammed into a wall. "Don't lie to me, either. I know exactly where you were! And you know I've told you I don't want you anywhere near those cunts. I don't want to hear about them, see them. You were to stay away from them, at school and outside of it." She slowly pushed herself to her feet, and fists hammered against her back, then hands gripped her shoulders. Spun her, then closed around her throat as she was slammed back against the wall. "Do I need to beat you? That's what my mother did to me. Maybe you'll listen if I beat you black and blue. Till you can't walk." The woman slapped her again. Allie stood silently, staring through tears at her, arms frozen down at her sides. She knew better than to do anything from her own brother's stories. To fight back was to make the situation far worse than it ever had to be.

"Get the belt. I'm not hurting my hands on you." She released Al and stepped back, and she ducked away to dart into the hall. Not fast enough, because knuckles grazed the back of her head. She ran past her father, who didn't even look at her, and her brother, who watched in silence, clutching her suitcase. Her fingers had locked around the handle, so she never dropped it. She heard her mother's stomping steps behind her and knew she was being followed to her room. As soon as she was sure she was out of view, she whipped out her phone and texted Awa. _Don't come, mom's home._

The answer was immediate: _You okay?_

Rather than answer, she pocketed the device and slipped inside her room, running for the closet. There was a thin plastic belt there, but she knew Lidna wouldn't want that one. She instead grabbed the leather braided belt. One that was already bent in the middle from its constant use, not as something to hold up a pair of pants with, but as a whip, folded once for twice the force and then used to hit her. Held vertically on either side, it bent immediately into that form.

Her bedroom door slammed behind her, and she turned slowly to face her mother, who was walking towards her. Grabbed the belt from her, shoved her towards her bed and hit her across the back with the belt. Once, twice. Iris darted from under her bed into her closet to hide. "Pull your pants down." Al's stomach twisted into little leather knots, and she obeyed, then leaned forward and braced her hands on the bed. And then her mother started whipping her, swinging the belt against her back and butt. Once, twice, three times. Didn't stop. Al shut her eyes and told herself not to make a sound, and it'd be over soon. But the swats kept coming, and her will quickly broke. She screamed. "Stop it! It hurts! I'm sorry!"

A slight pause as Lidna switched hands, then resumed the swings. "Why? You always say you're sorry. Never stops you from doing it again."

"I won't! I promise I won't. Stop!" Al cried, leaned away from the swings. Resisted the urge to jump out of the way, or try to grab the belt. It was embarrassing enough that her pants were down, and she wouldn't have time to correct them. Also, taking the belt away - or trying to - had been what had gotten her brother beaten. All over his body.

Lidna switched hands again, but after a snapping sound, she stopped. Threw the now-broken belt at her and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Downstairs, she could hear the sound of her mother's voice, raging. Talking about how she was such a worthless, ungrateful brat. Her father's muted voice in response. This went on for half an hour, and she tried to tune it out as she sat curled up in a corner, crying. Then her father shouted, loud enough that she'd be surprised if the neighbors hadn't heard:

"What do you want me to do, Lid? I can't kill her!"

Hours later, her phone buzzed on the floor in front of the closet. She crawled to it, saw that it was Awa, and flipped it open as she sat back in her corner. Iris rubbed against her as she whispered quietly. "Hello.."

"You weren't at the graduation ceremony." Awa's voice was blank.

"I wasn't able to go." Al's gaze trained on the door, and she drew in a breath. If she was caught on the phone now… "Hey, I gotta go."

Before Awa could respond, she hit End and deleted Awa from her Call History. A half hour later, she heard footsteps, and her door cracked open. She looked up and saw Micah standing in the doorway, holding a bowl of…something in his hands. Without saying anything, he walked in, put it on the bed, and walked out, shutting the door quietly behind him. She slowly sat up, saw that there was a lid on top of the bowl, opened it, and found heated spaghetti with a fork in it.

She crawled on the bed with her legs folded under her and began eating quietly. Al still felt sick and a little raw, her throat sore even though she hadn't really said anything. Not that she could remember, anyway. When she was done, she put the fork back in the bowl, covered it with the lid, placed it on her dresser, shut off her light, and curled up under her covers. She felt a small amount of weight on the bed near her, and pulled Iris under the covers too, cuddling the fluffy cat. She stiffened and struggled for a bit, then simply laid there.

Later that night, she got up and walked to the kitchen, placing her dishes in the sink and rinsing them before reaching into the cabinet and getting a glass down. She then reached under the sink, pulling out the gallon of Bleach that her mother kept there. Sitting there, staring quietly at the cup and gallon, she breathed slowly. Imagining drinking it, the burn as it ran down her throat, poisoned her body. Killed her. The gleam of a knife caught her attention, and for a moment she contemplated using it on her mother. Some part of her said the woman didn't deserve it. Another part said it didn't care. In the end though, she put the cup and gallon away, feeling guilty as she walked quietly up the stairs, past her parents' bedroom, her brother's, into hers…

_That was my fault. I'm the stupid one, the one who should die._

_But._

_I don't care._


	3. Chapter 3 : Crash

A week later, her diploma had arrived in the mail. Things were tense in the house, even a month afterwards. Somehow, Allina's mother always managed to hold grudges. Long ones. She was still mad at the girl over things that had happened back when she was eleven. Allie had just yesterday celebrated her eighteenth birthday, and today was wandering in the mall. Alone. A few of the people who knew her either turned and walked the other way, or they ignored her. Some of her old schoolmates stuck out their feet as they passed, intent on tripping her. They almost did once, making her stumble, but she was so used to it that she simply placed another foot in front of her while throwing her arms out and regained her balance, continuing her stride like nothing happened.

She hated the whispers, the giggles. Her plans for after high school hadn't been so much concerned with college as they had with simply getting away. Out of this town, out of this state, out of the country. Off of the continent even, if she could manage it. But she found she was still stuck at home, with her parents. Her parents, who were vastly disappointed in her. She either wasn't smart enough, or didn't try hard enough, or didn't think enough, or didn't do them enough favors. She didn't care for them enough, and that was fine by her. She hated them. She hated everyone. The religious fanatics, who needed something to cling to. Needed some wild explanation for the existence of all things, needed something to run crying to every time something went wrong in their lives. Needed a scapegoat for it. Had to have some great being to thank for every inkling of good that went on in their little worlds. Gave up any semblance of great enjoyment for mediocre lives, only doing for others in fear of what would happen if they didn't. They should do for others simply because they wanted to, because it made them feel like better people…they were…feeble. Weak-minded. Disgusting.

She hated people, always feeling the need to take more than they deserve. Desiring what was not theirs, honestly believing they existed to control everyone. Constantly at war because no one could decide whose fairy tale to believe and felt the need to force their beliefs off on others. Constantly looking down on others as less, bigoted. Afraid of anything different, unable to accept it. Wanting to destroy it. Such a sick, hopeless race, full of violent, greedy fools.

_I hate them. I hate them all._

She had a normal pair of blue jeans on, black sneakers, a plain white t-shirt and a black jacket. Every so often, she saw strange things. Such as a random person with a sword at their side, held on by a white strip of cloth. This one, like all the others she'd seen, wore black robes, had dark short hair, and a blank expression. They were…empty. That was the only word she could come up with to describe these people, so unimpressive and seemingly unimpressed. Adding to the oddity was the fact that no one seemed to notice them. Children did not change their paths when accidentally bumping into them, simply believing they'd tripped. Oddly enough, she'd seen some people pass right through, and that actually had been rather creepy.

Allina reached into her purse, pulling out her phone and checking the time. She still had an hour before she needed to start heading home, to get ready for the upcoming family event. Tomorrow they were all driving out to Dallas. Not her idea of a place for meeting, she would have preferred it if they'd gotten some place in Austin, but…oh well. She had to pick up tomorrow's outfit from the Dry Cleaners and get home to shower and eat. And then, go to bed since it would be an early morning. And by early, she means she'd be up by four. They were putting a ridiculous amount of time into this.

She turned, walked into an electronics store. Ran her fingertips along a few gaming consoles, glanced at their prices, and kept walking. Looked at a computer or two, checked out some games. When she straightened, she caught something dark standing next to her out of the corner of her eyes.

When she looked, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. Beyond it, a man with blue eyes glared at her. He had on a turtleneck, and the top of it covered his face. A few strands of black hair stuck out of the hood of the jacket he had, which was tugged up over his head. It was unzipped, and she could see he had on a dark green shirt. Baggy pants completed his look. "I'm going to ask you to come with me."

Finished looking him over, she met his gaze. Then, letting out the breath she was holding, she turned and walked away with a roll of her eyes. Her body was stiffening, muscles twitching, and adrenaline was pumping through her veins. That was it, though. Her body was experiencing fear, but she was overlooking it. She simply didn't care, one way or the other. She heard a click behind her. An order to stop. One of the people working in the store walked by. Gasped, dodging back behind a counter. A few other customers came into view, but they screamed and ran the other way. She took a few more steps, and then a loud noise filled her ears.

Something hit the back of her head, and it snapped forward as she stumbled. Something crashed to the floor in front of her, people screamed. More loud sounds erupted, and she realized they were gunshots. Something shoved past her, and she found herself looking at the man's back. She glanced down and found herself looking at a young woman's body. Her shoulder-length black hair was strewn across the carpeted floor, head turned to the side, and she could see some of her lightly tanned skin, a mouth that was slightly open. Her purse laid on the ground beside her, and she was limp. As Al watched, blood pooled around her, predominantly around the head, and she couldn't help but notice there appeared to be a hole in the back.

People fell around her as she walked forward, but the shooter didn't turn his gun on her again. When security came, they didn't notice her either. She heard the ringing of a chain, glancing down and seeing one hanging from her chest. Nothing was attached to the other end, and she pulled on it, expecting the thing to come off. It didn't, instead causing her pain. When the shooter was finally brought down, she watched as cops ran into the room. Pictures were taken, numbered frames placed around the bodies. People wrote on clipboards, and a few people ducked out of the back room and had to talk to an officer as well. She followed one of the officers back to the black-haired female and watched them finally start lifting her up. She was placed on a gurney, and when the brushed her hair away, Al found herself looking at a girl who was her mirror image._ What the hell? _She tilted her head to the side, watching as they lifted the sides of something black that they'd put her on. Zipped it all the way up, until she could no longer see the body, and then wheeled the gurney away.

She walked out of the shop, and no one tried to stop her. She looked over her shoulder and saw the strange person with the sword wearing all black running that way. She walked the opposite direction though. No one looked at her, no one stopped her to see if she was okay. It was kinda like she didn't exist. She was…used to be ignored, though. That was normal. She looked back one last time to see that the person in black was still being ignored, allowed into the shop without a word from anyone, and then Allie stepped onto an escalator. Stepped off at the bottom, walked along the mall's first floor, out the doors. She walked out into the parking lot, wandering until she found the sidewalk, then turned onto it and started walking.

A few dogs barked at her, but that was it. A cat hissed and ran away, a very small child pointed at her while leaning against his mother's leg before being patted on the head and told she didn't exist. That kinda made Allina mad though. "I do too exist!" She snapped. But, the woman kept walking, pretending to be oblivious to her presence. The whole time, that chain hung from her chest, swaying with each step and jingling. That was getting annoying pretty quickly, and after a bit she started tugging on the damn thing again. Though she eventually realized it wasn't coming off, and with a sigh she let it fall out of her hands again.

She stopped at Awa's house, knocking. After a few times, the door opened, and a teary-eyed woman just a little younger than she was opened the door. Wordlessly, she motioned her in and shut the door. Al said hi to Brennan and Thea, but they didn't respond. One was walking into their bedroom while the other sat on the couch, head in his hands. Al walked through the kitchen and dining room, then into her friend's bedroom without another word.

After a few minutes, she heard the door open and shut again behind her. "You're dead, you know."

She looked over her shoulder, waving her arms. "Obviously not. I'm here, aren't I? That not alive enough for you, LuLu?" She walked forward and sighed, twisting her legs as she turned and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking up to her. Luna Articune Awa, the first person she thought to go to when something strange and violent happened. Said something of their friendship, at least._ Didn't it? _She couldn't be sure, since it kinda seemed like their friendship was one-sided at times. As she'd seen over the years, her and her friends were all two-faced with each other, and she wasn't sure what was real. Probably never would be.

After a moment of staring at each other in silence, she sighed and walked to the wall. Pushed right through it, and after a moment of shock at the fact she'd actually managed to do so as though the structure was as insubstantial as air, she began walking. Out into the back yard, through the fence, into the pasture behind it. A strange whirring sound filled her ears, and as she turned around, she saw someone towering behind her.

He had shoulder-length pink hair, and orange eyes that peered down at her from behind glasses, strange white rims that almost looked sort of like bone, in a way. He had a sword strapped to his side, and the guard kinda looked like an assortment of purple grapes. There was a white shirt on him, with black lines running along it, and a white hakama that reached his ankles. It ended in strange black shoes with white lines on it. He had a strange smile on his face, tapping his chin with a gloved finger as he tilted his head to the side, looking down at her. Her immediate thought? Total_ weirdo._

"Can I help you?" She couldn't help snapping at him, since he creeped her out. A slow smile spread across her face, her usual reaction to such a thing. Just like how she cried when she was mad, or sometimes when she was happy as well. The responses seemed weird to her, even though she'd had the same ones for as long as she could remember.

He raised a brow, small chuckles emerging before he started slow strides around her, looking her over. She growled lowly, hands fisting, but when he came full circle and then stepped to her, grabbing her chain and holding it up to look at it, she stayed still. The urge to hurt ran deep in her bones, but over the years she'd been beaten down enough that she didn't actually have the will to raise a fist to anything. Well, unless it was in defense of one of the few friends she'd had over the years. Even her hesitance to act in any way hadn't been enough to dampen her will to protect those she cared for. But, Pinkie wasn't threatening any of her friends, at least not yet.

"Let me introduce myself." He said as he released her chain and turned his back, walking away. "My name is Szayel Apporo Granz. I don't know that you can help me, really, I'm simply looking for test subjects right now…but since you are already dead, taking you along for one wouldn't really be as much of a bother as selecting a random human to rip the soul out of." He turned and leveled a crazed grin on her, and next thing she knew he was… gone? She felt something on her cheek, like she'd been touched there lightly, and a little wind disturbed her hair. Hearing a few more chuckles coming from behind her, she turned - and immediately fell, body going limp and giving out on her. Allina could see Szayel again, merely a dark figure against moonlight now.

"Good that you agree. Well then, we're off." He stepped forward and crouched beside her, slipping an arm under her shoulders and another under her legs, then fitting his hand against the back of her head as he moved the other arm until it was at the back of her knees. She shouted at him mentally, but her mouth never opened, and her voice never escaped. Then he stood, picking her up and walking. She heard screams and tearing, and then the light of the moon was disappearing as he stepped into something, darkness consuming them. He walked in silence, steps echoing even though she saw nothing. Her head lolled slightly to the side, and she still couldn't see the floor. As they walked, Szayel spoke of his plans to use her to test some new device. It was supposed to create a hollow, and quicken the pace with which they morphed into a Menos Grande, Adjucha, and finally, Vasto Lorde. Whatever those were, since she'd never heard of any of them. She shut her eyes and simply listened, hoping that he'd continue to explain. This was apparently some attempt to generate a higher number of Vasto Lorde to convert into Arrancars. Great, another word she didn't know.

Almost as though he could sense her growing confusion and irritation, he chuckled and explained the branching terms he'd used…and as he did, her dread grew. Everything sounded…painful. And she didn't have a particularly high pain tolerance. Somewhere in all his droning, she fell asleep…


	4. Chapter 4 : Greetings

Allina woke slowly. When she did, she found herself in a large…glass tank? She blinked, looking around. Yes, it was a glass tank. Well, that was the best way to describe it. Though, three of the walls were made of some form of pale stone, only one side being glass, and even then it wasn't a very large one. The ceiling was extremely high. Unnecessarily, for the small single occupant. It was also far too wide; she was sure four football fields would fit easily inside. The glass was pretty decent-sized, permitting her a view into a room full of computers.

Monitors blinked from every wall, and even sat on desks facing away from her. A few strange people wandered between them, also garbed in odd white uniforms, though no one person looked exactly the same. Hell, some of them didn't even seem…normally shaped. There was one that floated about, completely inhuman. It had a head and a conelike body, no legs, and where arms might have been on a person, two long tentacles hung all the way to the floor. And here she'd thought Pinkie was weird…Slowly, they began to file out of the room as she looked in, the glass darkening so she couldn't really see through it anymore.

"So you're awake. Good." She looked around at the intrusion, though she saw no one in the room. The disembodied voice's owner did not reveal himself, though she recognized it. That was…Mister Szayel. Or Pinkie, or Giggles…She wasn't sure which nick she liked more, since both of them were completely demasculinating. "Hungry?"

Al frowned, then shook her head. She wasn't sure if he could hear her. Again she found herself looking for the source of that voice. It was so unbelievably loud, and seemed to have been somehow broadcasted at her from all directions at once. Almost like she was surrounded by him. Though, that would be utterly creepy if it was true. But maybe it was. She had to remember the way he'd moved, faster than she could see, and how he'd somehow paralyzed her. She then noticed her clothes.

Someone must have changed her while she was asleep, because she now wore a long white hakama. She had on a skintight white shirt, with a black line running down the front and around the tail. Her shoulders were bared, the material rising to form a turtleneck. Though, she had sleeves on. They just started in the middle of her upper arms, flowing down gently and ending at her wrists. She also had on white gloves that ended just below her elbows. Al didn't really like the idea of having been dressed, and just hoped Pinkie hadn't been the one to do it. She glanced back at the window, realizing it was no longer darkened.

Szayel was there at the glass, standing with his thin arms crossed over his chest and gazing silently at her. "Well, you will be." He reached over and hit a keyboard, and she heard something…looking over, she saw that something was rising out of the floor…the top of a head emerged, then a blank face. A neck, shoulders… Soon, a second Mister Giggles was standing in front of her. He walked forward slowly, calmly, folding his hands together behind his back. The one still behind the glass pulled out a rolling chair and sat down. "You'll be fighting this clone now. He's not as strong or fast as me, so he should do for now. And as your strength grows, so will his. The point of this is to get your reiatsu up. I've already given you the enhancement that will speed up most processes. This test will be to see what it does for those wishing to get stronger faster, since I may want to come up with a new prototype before I speed up your Encroachment process for that test, and the following ones. And I would explain what reiatsu and the encroachment process were, but that would take far too long. I'll wait and see if you survive this first." He ran a hand slowly through his hair, grinning.

At about that same time, Al's feet came sliding out from under her as something slammed against her legs, and she found herself down on her side, watching as the other Szayel was righting himself from a leg sweep. Well, it looked like it, but now he was going into position to slam an elbow down into her gut. She rolled to the side, and his elbow slammed into the stone floor, jarring him. Must have upset his funny bone too, because he shivered, and the face he made was hilarious as he clutched at his arm.

Allina took the chance that gave her and popped to her feet, swinging a leg out to kick him in the face before he could stand, considering the fact he was taller than her and she couldn't jump that high, nor was she sure she could get her leg up there with the pants she was in. Seeing her move though, Pinkie Clone grabbed her foot, twisting it - and her - as he pushed to a stand and jerked it upwards, dumping her on her back with a dull thud. He stepped forward and raised his foot, clearly intent on stomping her in the gut. Not having time to roll out of the way, she instead drew up her legs, meeting his one foot with two of her own to kick him away. The force knocked him off balance, and he stumbled back.

"You could at least teach me how to fight first!" She shouted towards the glass after popping to her feet and backing away. Bad move, of course. As soon as she turned her head, Giggles Number Two slammed his fist into the back of it. She stumbled forward, and he kicked the back of her knees. Having not seen that coming and thought to fortify herself, she fell. For like, the third time, damn it all. Crazed laughter was her only answer from the man behind the glass. Fingers tangled in her hair, pulled her head back, then slammed it forward, intent on smashing her face into the floor. She crossed her arms in front of her and tilted her head forward slightly, ignoring the sharp pains from the hair being torn from her scalp as she did so. Instead of her head getting forced into the floor, her forehead hit her arms.

She then drew her legs under her, and as her head was drawn back a second time, she dropped her body as far as she could without taking her head away, and shot out a leg, aiming a kick for the weak zone between his legs. The Achilles' heel of a man. His grip loosened as he howled, and she twisted onto her left side, chopping his wrist with her left hand before reaching up to slam her palm up against his nose, to either break it or shove cartilage up into his brain and kill him. Instead, he grabbed her hand, and she rolled onto her back, kicking again. "Let go!"

He actually did, jumping back before she could even land the kick. Allie pushed quickly to a stand, and the two simply circled each other. Beyond him, she could see someone walking up behind Szayel in the room. The clone lunged forward, aiming a punch at her. "What's going on?" The voice was perfectly audible even from over here, which meant the clearly male visitor was speaking quite loudly. Al rushed forward as well, dropping to her knees as she did a body roll. Once on her back though, she swung her legs around and aimed a kick at his stomach.

"A workout, more or less." Szayel's voice, irritated. At the disturbance? The clone groaned, reaching for her legs, but she whipped them away and rolled to the side, popping to her feet and darting away to recreate the distance. Again, they circled.

"This looks boring. Let me in there at her." The male's voice again. This time, she was the one to make a move. She feinted a step towards him, and he swung out his leg as though to trip her. She'd stepped back though, then kicked her leg out to nail him in the ear. Contact.

"I need her stronger, not dead. She's part of an experiment." Szayel's voice was definitely irritated now. If not a little tired. She heard an annoyed grunt, and tossed a glance over her shoulder. All she could really tell about the new person was that he had blue hair, the same white uniform as Szayel, and…wasn't in the least bit shy about his body. He had on pants and boots, and there was a very thick black sash wrapped around his waist, but the only item he wore for a shirt was an open jacket. He was muscled, very well built…that was almost more muscle than she'd seen on a guy aside from the ridiculous professional wrestlers. Well, a normal guy, anyway, but she realized he wasn't a normal guy. There was a huge hole going through his stomach, for crying out loud. Not. Normal. At. All.

She caught movement again from the clone, but all she could do was quickly wave a hand in front of her face, muscles locked down, to block a punch, and then she was twisting to the side, another aimed punch following her and forcing her to block again. Annoyed, she kicked him in the shin, then uppercutted him. He didn't seem to care about the kick much, even if he did flinch slightly, and he moved with her uppercut, so that didn't seem to hurt him much either. Only, after that he spun and dropped down on his hands, throwing a kick for her chin. This _did_ connect, and dear lords above, did it hurt.

Al shuddered, stumbling back. A leg sweep threw her to the floor, and she stayed down. Rolled over onto her stomach, pushing to her feet and running a few feet away.

The next few days continued in much the same way. Szayel would have her worked over until she got hungry, and as soon as she'd rested the clone was right back to attacking her. Eating, sleeping, and fighting, with short rests in between when she talked directly with Szayel. A few other randoms wandered in. The first visitor whose name was apparently Grimmjow. Another one came, who seemed bored with existence, all life in general. He was dressed more like a butler, deathly pale, and had a strange sense of…almost sadness about him. She somehow felt like she could relate to the guy. He was apparently Ulquiorra. There was also a green-haired lady who came.

There was such a large flow of visitors throughout the time she spent here, she didn't really take the time to get to know them all. In the end, she only vaguely recognized a set few, who'd oddly enough taken to coming around on a near-daily basis, simply watching. Were their lives that boring or something? Over the first few weeks, she was sore, but that slowly wore off as time went on. Her senses were slowly refining, and she realized she was able to tell when someone was coming, and, finally, she could even tell _who_ approached.

She could tell what they were eventually, how strong each happened to be. Eventually began to notice that they tended to come in certain pairs, aside from Grimmjow. He wandered about independently of anyone, and never seemed to have another of his kind tagging along. During her breaks, if Szayel for one reason or another was too busy with something on a screen to talk, they would speak. He always had this intense look in his eyes, and the set of his jaw made him seem almost angry. His voice was harsh and at first scared her a little, but eventually she got used to it. Unlike Szayel, he seemed nearly feral. His smiles were in a way confident and crazed, but it was more of a you-are-so-fucking-dead smile, and sometimes she actually got the feeling he was going to punch through the glass, grab her by the head, and crush her skull. For fun. Though he'd yet to actually threaten her in any way, Al always expected violence from Grimmjow. The other Arrancar - since that's what they were, apparently - seemed to share her fears, flinching away from him if he moved too fast. Well, aside from Szayel. He always seemed fairly confident as well.

Ulquiorra, she's spoken to once or twice as well. He never really had much to say, simply questioning her reactions to things. _What are you thinking about? Why do you wonder about your friends? Why aren't you scared? Why don't you cry? _He was always ready to point out any weaknesses she had. He was threatening too, but not in the same way Grimmy was. He wasn't exciting. There was also a brown-haired man who came, with a young man and a boy following him, who didn't feel like the others. He radiated a kindness, but she could tell it was a false one. There was something…snakelike about him. Untrustworthy. Wrong. And then there was a silver-haired fox faced boy, who seemed friendly enough, even if he landed on the creepy radar pretty hard as well. And then there was the dark-toned one. She'd spoken to him once, and he seemed okay. She wasn't wary of him. Well, in a way, yeah, she was, in the whole you're-affiliated-with-my-captors-somehow way. But if they'd met on other terms, she probably wouldn't have been afraid of him. She didn't get the feeling he'd carve out her heart and smile in the same, dead, insincere way she imagined that the brown-haired man would.


	5. Chapter 5 : Train

"Concentrate." Szayel stood over her, arms crossed weakly in front of him. This was probably the hundredth time he'd said this. Allina had apparently generated enough reiatsu for him to want to actually work with her strictly on that. He'd even called off Other Pinkie and forced him to back away. She was supposed to form a ball of energy in the palm of her hand, and since she hadn't been successful in that yet, she now wore a special glove to help her. Apparently, it would work like training wheels, aiding in the concentration and shaping of Reiryoku. Her spirit power, in other words.

Behind him sat Grimmjow. Still on the other side of the glass, though Szayel had simply stepped through it to her. As usual, Grimmy was looking at her the way a cat eyed a mouse. Like dinner. Also as usual, it didn't bother her very much. Al just smiled at him before averting her eyes. The I-feel-awkward-and-don't-know-what-to-do smile. Though, it was better than shivering or cowering away from his gaze, as she instinctively desired to do.

With a sigh, she shut her eyes again. Felt inside her body, trying to pull at the power that coursed through her. Power nearly the equivalent of a sixth-seat Shinigami's, according to Master Giggles. She gripped at it mentally, pulling, but it was kinda like trying to pull on water. It slid around her and stayed where it was. If she successfully got a grip on it, she could only get it to come so far before it snapped back like a rubber band. She'd actually felt some form of force flowing out of her body then, which was reiatsu, or spiritual pressure, according to Szayel. He'd snapped at her more than once and said to stop playing with it. Allina couldn't help it though, seeing as how she couldn't seem to figure out anything else to grab on to. This time, instead of trying to grip the first bits of power within herself that she could feel and pull those, she reached into it. To a core point, imagining a ball of intense light surrounded by darkness and dust particles that it gave off in her mind. She then imagined herself falling into that light, surrounding herself with it, gripping it and pulling it around her. Absorbing, claiming it as hers…

She heard Szayel step back, felt the ground fall away from her even though nothing had lifted her. She opened her eyes, and the room was bathed in a strange golden light. Szayel had a funny look on his face, and Grimmjow had lifted his head a little, still staring at her. Though, his expression wasn't the same one. It was more or less…surprise?

She held up her hand, saw that it was covered in something. Allina realized that she could actually feel and control that something like it was a mere extension of who she was. On command as she raised her arm out, it formed a sickle. She bent and drew the tip against the ground, and saw that it was actually cutting the hard stone.

Interesting.

She drew in a breath, raising the gloved hand that for whatever reason her power would not flow over, willing the amounts of reiryoku that covered her body to flow onto her right hand. Felt it running like water over her, pooling along that arm as it pulled across her back, bared the skin of her left arm to direct air again. A few moments later, her feet once again touched the ground. She forced that power up into the glove, commanding it to form a ball in the palm of her hand, and it sank into the underlying material, coursing quickly along before doing as ordered. The ball was large, too large, so she slowly started closing her fingers over it. Reducing the amount of area it took up, making it more compact, denser…she didn't stop until it looked like a solid orb of light.

Al held it up, and heard clapping. Only then did she let out the breath she was holding, or realize that sweat had beaded on her forehead, dripped down her neck…her hair was plastered to her head, and after that first breath was released, she started panting and collapsed to the ground. Her concentration broke, and the ball exploded.

When she woke up, she was back to training, without the glove now. Only this time, the clone was using an assortment of tricks. He would throw balas at Allie, fire short ceros at her. A few times, it did that irritating trick where the clone disappeared and reappeared somewhere else, though she was slowly starting to realize she could track his movements if she watched carefully. She had an easier time summoning her own powers now, and right now was actually flying. Flying!

She'd managed that little bit of awesome by making wings form, protruding from her back and helping her lift into the air. She beat them rarely, mainly concentrated on gliding about. From above, she would form whips of reiryoku from her fingertips and slap at the clone with them, or hurl spears. She now had her Chain of Fate wrapped around her neck, since last time she'd let it hang free that bastard had grabbed onto it to pull her down. And when he yanked, her body exploded with pain, wings disappearing immediately as she lost control of her power again.

As Allina stared down at Pseudo-Szayel, she formed a sword in one hand, held as far out of view as she could manage. She then folded her wings behind her back, nose-diving for him. It wasn't until seconds before contact that she spread her wings to slow her descent, swinging out her sword. The clone's head rolled on the floor a second later, body falling to its knees before slamming forward.

Oops.

She landed and glanced anxiously towards the glass, awaiting some form of punishment. Surely, Allie would get in trouble for destroying Blank Pinkie. Grimmjow had gotten up and started walking to the glass, hands in his pockets, but Szayel put out an arm to stop him, laughing. "Well, I believe it's time to Hollowify you."

Allie dismissed her powers, walking to the glass and sitting in a criss-cross position. She wasn't really sure when she'd become a willing, active participant in this…experiment, but she was more curious than reluctant to obey. Perhaps she'd been willing from the beginning?

Grimmjow finished walking to the glass, then sat in criss-cross in front of her. Behind him, she saw the dark figure of Szayel-Apporo walking to a computer. Leaning over, hitting a few keys. Touching the screen. As her view of them slowly began to diminish, Al realized the glass was beginning to tint, and frowned. It was never any fun if she couldn't see who she was speaking to. "The speediest Encroachment I know of was seventy two hours long. Even that was with assistance. Though, yours will be too. I will be…recording this. We'll see if you Hollowify under twice the assistance, or if your soul burns out first."

Burns out? Dread curled in her stomach again. Especially considering the fact that Encroachment was one of the painful-sounding things that Szayel had mentioned while bringing her here. Remembering her warning about the fact that it was the Chain eating itself up, and that it would eat anything that touched it, her hand snapped up and she quickly unwound the chain from her neck.

Good thing, too, because next thing she knew the bottom links had come alive. They started eating each other, themselves…and as the links chomped, pain radiated through Allina, and she threw herself onto her side, watching the links. "Are you afraid now?" Ulquiorra's voice. But when had he gotten here? She tried to lift her head, but that intensified the pain, so she simply gritted her teeth and shook it slowly. Even that hurt her. It felt like her entire body was sore, all the muscles spasming against her will, inflicting maximum pain, and then spazzing more as she flinched away from the pain too. The more she moved, the more she hurt, and the more she hurt, the more she tried not to move. But move she did, in spite of that.

"You're about to lose your humanity. Your heart." Confusion filled the man's voice. "Does that truly not scare you?" The voice was so much closer…she could've sworn he was speaking directly into her ear. And maybe he was. She didn't open her eyes to check, though.

"In order to be scared, I'd have to give a damn first." Her voice was pained, but still calm enough. Steady. Al was relieved that she at least sounded stronger than she felt. Stronger than she probably looked… Her heart? Ha! She'd have to find it before she could lose it here, anyway. Stupid Arrancar…

"Back off, Ulquiorra." Grimmjow's voice was practically a growl. "Otherwise, I'm going to smash your head into the floor and use whatever's left of your mask as a bowl for my dinner."

Aside from a few chuckles, courtesy of Granz, there was no response. After a few beats of silence aside from the munching of Allie's chains, she heard footsteps. Opened her eyes, but black still greeted her for the most part. She could only see a blur of blue, white, and black…a sudden light as she heard a door creaking open, a lone form standing in the middle. Ulquiorra's voice: "Come, Yammy. We're leaving." The door shutting, cutting out the blinding light behind it. Her head was spinning, so she shut her eyes again.

Allina wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep, but two pokes to her cheek were waking her up suddenly. Her faded grey eyes snapped open, and the silver-haired fox-faced kid was crouched beside her, smiling down. Always smiling, this guy. Eyes always closed, too, or at the very least, slitted so much she couldn't even see the whites of them. "Hi, remember me? Gin Ichimaru?"

She sat up, frowned at him. "I've just been calling you Smilies." Or fox-face. That worked too, quite well if she was honest. Described him perfectly. She watched him grab the end of her suddenly short chain, and she realized it wasn't eating itself anymore. Odd…she should have realized that though when she was able to sit up without immense pain, or when she couldn't hear its chomping. Perhaps she'd just assumed she'd grown accustomed to the sound.

"I'm told you're already expected to go into the final Encroachment." That voice…friendly, but somehow empty, cold. It sent shivers down her spine, but she knew instantly who it was.

"Hello, Aizen." She met his falsely kind gaze, only noticing out of the corner of her eye that Gin had pulled a plate of some kind around in front of her. Unlike the others, she wasn't able to get used to this guy. Didn't like him, didn't want him nearby. The others were okay, even if only barely. He was off on his own little level of creepy as all shit.

"You should eat." Gin. She looked down at the plate. Plucked the most edible-looking thing off, bit. Her gaze immediately returned to Aizen as she nodded her thanks to Gin. Allie would watch this guy until he left. Though, since he was standing right at the edge of the glass…she inched backwards, away from him. Only slightly, but enough to add a little distance. She could have sworn she'd seen the guy lean slightly forward, and it made her mad. Did he not understand that no halfway sane person wanted to be anywhere near a guy like him?

"I can see you aren't happy with my presence. Gin, Tosen." The brown-haired man turned and began walking away. She glanced at Ichimaru, who was actually frowning at her, before he rose and walked through the glass to fall into place behind Aizen, beside Tosen, who she hadn't even realized was there. She kept eating, resisting the sudden urge to actually call an apology out to Gin.

Al picked up the plate and started walking in the opposite direction, eating as quickly as she could. She wasn't really sure how much time she had before this horrible encroachment began again, and she wasn't going to waste any time. She wanted to train a little more before this continued. So, when she was full, she set the plate aside and started summoning her powers. Whips snapped from her fingertips as she tried to concentrate on lengthening them. Making them thinner, making them stronger. Wings grew from her back on command, and she attempted to force them to take on a more angelic appearance, make a specific form. Perhaps even take on a more real appearance, instead of being made of light. Not that she minded that look, it just…wasn't as nice as perhaps having them look real would have been.

She hadn't noticed when Arrancars started trickling into the lab room that gave them a perfect view of her, hadn't noticed when something about the composition of the room changed, reishi - or spirit particles - somehow morphing. She did, however, notice when the Encroachment started again. When pain lanced her body, the sounds of munching beginning again. When black lace webbed across her vision again, and she fell. Oblivion claimed her before she hit the floor, and Allina knew no more.


	6. Chapter 6 : Detour

Grimmjow smirked, turning his gaze from the fallen human soul over to Szayel, who was grinning and laughing insanely. "Record time?"

"Eleven hours. A simple eleven hours, and she's hollowifying! Isn't this magnificent?" The pink-haired man was doubled over, pressing his hands against the desk in an attempt to prop himself up. His body shook with every chuckle, and then he slowly began raising his head, orange eyes staring over the rims of his glasses into the containment area, and he ran his tongue over his teeth. "Now…"

He turned his gaze back to the female. Every last link in the chain had come alive, eating each other up, and now that most of them were gone, the remaining few were chewing into the point they were attached to her chest by, eating a hole through her. He watched as the one who called herself Allina Tsuin bucked, screaming in the suddenly heightened pain before that screaming became a choking sound, and the material that would form her mask came gushing out of her mouth, from her tear ducts… His own grin spread more.

Then he heard footsteps, and Aizen was pulling up a chair at the edge of the glass, back of the chair to their window into where Al was as he sat down. He rested his chin on his arms, which were crossed over the back of the chair. "Will she be ready to start the next series of tests soon?" Eyes on the prize, as always, Sosuke was. Never had he been reluctant to use others for his tests. Even now, he was attempting to Hollowify shinigami, to see if there was not some way to break the boundary between Hollow and Shinigami. He planned on using that ability to further strengthen the Arrancar present and create more, much the same as that maniac of a computer worm was intent on finding a way to create more Vasto Lorde, seeing as how they were so difficult to find out there in Hueco Mundo. The stronger the base creature, the better…so why not start with the best? Pick and choose what gets thrown into the mix, breeding things far stronger than any currently known being? It was ideal.

"I don't see why not." Finally calming, Granz straightened, turned so his back was to the window and leaned against the desk, trailing his fingers through his hair and slowing the closer he got to the tips, staring at the locks. He then turned, hitting a few keys on the board and then flicking the screen, and the window went black. Grimmjow could no longer see the thrashing girl, or hear her screams echoing around them, and he frowned.

Instantly bored, he pushed to his feet, shoved his hands in his pockets and headed for the door, but Ichimaru inched over into his path, head tilted to the side, smiling as always, hands hidden in his sleeves. "Where are you going?"

Grimmjow shouldered by and pushed the door open with more force than necessary. "To find something to do, things just got boring in here." He said it over his shoulder and kicked the door shut before anything more could be called after him, turning and walking down the hall. He'd come back when there was something to see again. The only reason he was even present was because they never kept humans here in Hueco Mundo. It came as a surprise to him that they were doing so now. Aizen, the small boy called Gin, and Tosen would be leaving soon, returning to the Soul Society before anyone realized they were gone. This would of course leave Ulquiorra in charge, as the only one who would bother with the task of running Las Noches, in spite of the fact he was only Fourth. Not that Grimmjow gave a damn.

He was bored. Very bored, and unless he made good on his threat to pound Ulquiorra's face in, he was doomed to stay that way. Of course, to do so was also to invite punishment, and though he didn't mind fighting - hell, he_ loved_ it - he did mind the idea of losing his placement.

Grimmjow crouched under the shade of a tree, watching as a group of shinigami emerged from a senkaimon. Well, he'd expected shinigami, but all he saw was a bunch of kids running around in uniforms that were either white and blue, or white and red. They jumped across rooftops and chased mechanical Hollows. Was this how they trained their officers? With fake swords, fake uniforms, and fake enemies, the only thing real being their surroundings? Pathetic.

He then smirked, straightening. Perhaps he'd give them something real to try. Throw some real hollows at them and see if they still wanted to become Shinigami. See if they even survived the event at all, seeing as he didn't see a single black uniform anywhere and not a single one of their spiritual pressures were particularly notable. How many Hollows should he send, as part of his gift? Two? Three? Maybe a few more than that. He opened a garganta, stepping through and simply whistling.

A few hollows came running. A few rather large ones, but it would make this just that much better. They launched themselves at him, howling, but he sidestepped and they moved through the enlarging opening between the worlds. To the shinigami trainees, since he was positive that's what they were. Grimmjow then pivoted on his heels to watch the show, but the lucky recipients of his gift hadn't even noticed what was towering over them yet. He shook his head, smirked when the first scream rang out, and closed the garganta, stepping away into the shadows to watch. He saw a trainee in red get skewered, watched the shocked looks on the faces of the others. As the hollows attacked, the trainees bunched together in an increasingly smaller group. Well, until real Shinigami showed up and ruined the show. Captain-class, too…he didn't wait to see how quickly the hollows were dispatched.

Grimmjow walked down the alleyway between two houses, staying in the shadows as an afterthought. He knew who the captain-class officers that descended were, and was well aware now that no shinigami were within Las Noches. The three that were had now appeared here, to put down his hollows. End his fun._ Bastards_. Not that it would have lasted much longer, anyway. At the end of the alley, the air seemed to be pinching, rolling, and then tearing, opening to reveal endless black. Oh yeah, and Ulquiorra, slight figure seeming even more so in front of the hulking one of Yammy. To intercept him? Probably. Go figure he'd come with backup, since he was weaker than Grimmjow. Ulqui may have been Fourth, but he was still weaker. Less.

He'd prove that one of these days, should the opportunity present itself. Right now, though, he had to behave. Damn it all. Instead of acknowledging either of the Arrancar, he shouldered past them, headed for whatever waited on the other side of this tunnel. Ulquiorra was silent, though Yammy had a mouthful of things to say. A mouthful he grumbled loudly, but Grimmjow didn't listen to. If he had, he might have turned around, eagerly accepting the challenge. Again, what stopped him was the knowledge that he would be punished for that.

He stopped for a moment when he saw what was waiting at the end of the tunnel, though. Grimmjow hadn't expected a person, he'd been expecting for a place to come into view. Instead, the green-haired female Neliel was standing there, gazing at him with a hand on her hip in that calm way. Dispassionate, belittling…his teeth ground together, and he started walking again. "What do you want?"

Her expression betrayed no reaction to his snap. Instead of answering, she pressed her lips together and walked out of view. Annoying woman. Was probably going to lecture him on how he was too violent or too reckless or needed to leave things alone. She constantly had Nnoitra worked up into fits of rage with her too-calm voice, her unwillingness to take a battle seriously, the belittling way she looked at people. He had no idea how she was number three. Nel was just too motherly, too nice. Gentle. That, in an Arrancar, was wrong. He should crush her anyway, just to put her out of her misery. She'd never have to see another violent thing again. That should please the stupid woman.

His gaze landed on pale sands and sunny skies as he stepped out of the garganta, and he looked around. Structures more closely resembling candlesticks sticking out of the ground than buildings greeted his eyes, an Espada palace. Neliel over near Nnoitra, more than likely pissing him off again with words alone. As was what seemed to be her favorite pastime. Bitch.

"The girl is now a Hollow." Ulquiorra's voice, behind him. Aizen's wannabe butler stepped out beside, and then a little bit ahead of him, before turning to look at him. "Seems like information that would interest you."

Grimmjow grinned. Sure, it was interesting. He could actually watch a soul go through all the processes of becoming one of them. And so quickly? Every time he visited, he got to see something new. He just wished that Szayel would let him fight the girl, but every time he made the demand, he got the same story. _She's too weak. I need her stronger, not dead. She's part of this experiment._ He'd said to make her strong enough if she wasn't already, but that demand was met with silence. He'd resisted the urge to crush the numerous's skull then and there, merely because he was for once interested in the results of this experiment of his. To kill the mad scientist was to ensure he'd never see them. And then, he actually might as well have gone in and crushed the girl as well.

He just didn't like the way Ulquiorra said it. The tone of his voice… "Are you implying something, Four?"

Again, silence surrounded them. Well, aside from Yammy's grumbling, and the sound of him scratching the back of his neck, undoubtedly looking in the direction of Nel and Nnoitra. He looked too, and saw that Nnoitra was in mid-swing with his scythe, attacking the pale green-haired woman. Well, well, look who lost his cool. Not that he really had any. _Serves Neliel right_. Grimmjow hoped he cut her in half.

"Aren't you going to see? No telling how long she'll be like this for." Ulquiorra, again. Was he still here? Grimmjow's head swiveled around and he glared at him. Again, there'd been implications in his voice when he'd asked if Grim was going to watch the experiment. Because he'd been such a frequent visitor?

"I doubt Szayel will let me in there at her yet, so it's not like I get to have any fun. Why bother?" Grimmjow shrugged his shoulders, turning and starting to walk off. Oh yes, he would definitely be dropping in on the experiment. He just wasn't going to entertain any of the other Espada with watching him frequent the science lab. Maybe he should've visited more frequently during the other experiments he'd known about, but it had never really intrigued him. It wasn't like any fighting went on, or they kidnapped other races to poke and prod and evolve, like Szayel had done a month ago with this girl. After this, his honest opinion was that they should. But none of the other things they could toy with seemed quite as interesting as this human - _not anymore,_ he had to remind himself - soul. Why? Because this was almost like learning and observing his own beginnings? Well, with a few added twists, like the girl's powers. Odd that Szayel hadn't wanted to research those first. Now, though, they could watch and see if the hollow Allina had become would have those same abilities.

This whole thing could come crashing down to an end, though, when she actually became a Menos. If her will and personality wasn't strong enough, she'd be snuffed out by all the other hollows, and if one of them failed to take control of the entire being…she'd just be a normal, run-of-the-mill Menos and be no good. Though he had a hard time imagining that snippy little girl's spirit could be dominated or forced to blend with others. No matter how calm and quiet she seemed at times, he saw the fire in those eyes. Maybe he was just imagining it. Maybe not.

Grimmjow blinked when he realized where he was at the end of his thoughts. In the lab again. Hollows screamed, writhing inside the room that had once been the oversized home to one small human. They scaled the walls, flew overhead, crowded the floor…Szayel was standing at the window, having a staring contest with one hollow in particular. Well, until it got bitten into by another of the ravenous creatures. Then, with a scream, it spun and smacked at what had bitten it. Hollows closed in on it then, sharks drawn by the smell of fresh blood. "Which one is the kid?"

Granz pointed up silently. Grim walked to the window, gaze turning in the direction indicated. Through thin strands of strange golden light that hollows were getting stuck in, unable to pull free or bite their way loose. Those hollows were being absorbed by these threads that formed what he could only describe as a web. Once caught, the lights branched off into the creature, and he could actually see the power being drawn from them, their bodies breaking down. One of them were withered and reduced to nearly nothing. This hollow glowed a brilliant blue before exploding into nothing but reishi and reiryoku, which the veinlike lights branching off from the strand of 'web' wrapped around and absorbed. He followed the flow of brighter light that was energy being transferred through the web, and saw as it ended in the claws at the top of a large…cocoon?

No, he realized a moment later. Those were wings. He could see long black hair hanging down from the bottom of the creature. As it hung there, the wings pulled back, and he could see that hair was attached to the head of the batlike hollow that was suspended upside-down. Glowing red eyes peered out from behind the mask. Directly at him. Once more, he found himself wondering if reiatsu reached that room, and its inhabitants could sense those on the outside. For that to be true meant the room was not secure, though.

The hollow spread its wings suddenly, mouth opening in a deafening howl. Its claws opened, releasing the webs, which immediately retracted and dropped everything they hadn't absorbed, the rest returning to the creature's body. Halfway drained hollows rained upon the unsuspecting participants of the mayhem on the floor, and the bat-hollow thing swooped down, landing against a wall where a spiderlike one was climbing its way towards it and pinning the hollow. He didn't have to see the Al-hollow biting into the creature, hear the flesh tearing, to know what she was doing. He could tell in how she kept it pinned while clinging to the wall with the claws on her wings. The quick, viper-like darts of her head in, the slow, jerky backward tugs. She dropped the remains of the hollow finally, only to take back to the air and go soaring after another one. Occasionally swoop down and pick off one of the hollows in the crowd below after they'd eaten a large number already, chewing in mid-flight on her way to a wall, where she would again pin the squirming creatures and finish the meal.

Each dead hollow was replaced soon enough, more falling down into the room when a square opened up. A few hollows that were also flighted creatures having to be pushed down into the room, but after that they wasted no time in chasing the bat-like creature. Those that gave chase, Al made a priority to kill first though, a couple times even dropping her 'food' to make room for them in her talons. It seemed this cannibalistic food fest would never end.


	7. Chapter 7 : Nya?

Allina climbed along the walls of the room, the talons of her new body sinking into the stone with ease. It was like sinking her nails into a bar of butter. Practically no resistance at all. Al wasn't used to this body, hadn't really wanted to try to use it yet, but with all the creatures swarming around her it was slowly becoming necessary. Grimmjow's gaze had also spurred her into action. She hadn't wanted to simply sit in one spot and be stared at. So here she was, climbing from wall to wall, eating these creatures, watching the ones that came too close and picking which of the hollows below she would eat next. Which had the highest pressures going, had eaten the most. How long had she been here for? How long had this churning mass of monsters eating monsters been here for? She found she'd lost track of time however long ago, the number of times she'd slept and awoken being her only indicator of how long she'd been here. Only, she hadn't been keeping track of that, and may have been sleeping more to make up for how tired she was getting most of the time. Like now. But she couldn't sleep. Not with all these things here. But…she was hungry. So constantly hungry, and wasn't sure she would have been able to sleep anyway. Not with that gnawing emptiness, urging her to attack, to chew.

She pushed off the wall, flapping her wings, diving low and sinking her claws into the back of some creature that didn't really look like anything, was just some strange abstract form. Flapped her wings more, flying to a wall. Gripped it with the claws of her wings, bringing the hollow up to her mouth with the claws that formed where her feet should have been. Bit into it, chewed. The whole time, she could feel eyes on her. But, the longer this went on, the less she really cared. It was starting to be normal, having people watching. They were always watching. Always out of reach, too, and the two that were there now smelled oh, so delicious. It was too bad, really.

She stared at what was left of the hollow in her grip, at the green juice that poured from its wounds. Bit again. She gained power from just breathing alone, and these hollows…each one that was thrown into the room was stronger than the next, she could feel that. It was a gradual, painfully slow increase, but she could tell. Eating some of the newer ones gave her more power than eating the ones who'd been there, devouring uninterrupted by her.

She swooped down, biting a chunk off of a massive hollow that had been dropped into the arena in passing before flying up to the ceiling and facing it. This one was at least the size of a two-story house, walking around, each step so very loud. She chewed, watching it picking up hollows in spite of having been bitten, tossing whole creatures into his mouth. Some of the larger ones were two bites for the big guy.

Al chewed steadily, swallowed, and looked around. A pterodactyl-looking hollow flew to her, screeching. She simply flipped around, flew headlong into the creature, flapped her wings and slammed it against the wall opposite the one she'd been on, effectively pinning it. As the flighted hollow thrashed, she bit into it, quickly devouring it. This time, there were no remains for her to drop. She ate it all before turning her attention back to her mark. Interestingly enough, no more hollows had been dropped into the room from the ceiling, so there were barely any hollows left. Those that were, the large hollow was cornering. Allina took out one of the winged hollows remaining, but by the time she finished with it, her and the largest hollow were the only ones left.

They faced each other, clearly intent on making a meal of the only remaining hollows. The large hollow was imposing, so much bigger than herself. But that also meant he'd be slow, clumsy, and easy to maneuver around. Allina, with her wings and small body, should be fine. The biggest challenge would likely be eating the ugly brute, nothing more.

A short while later, he was merely chunks of hollow meat on the floor that she was eating. "Well done, Subject VLB-001." She snapped her head up at the intrusion, the dying hollow's flesh tearing because she hadn't released it, and she chewed it before swallowing. Again, it was like the voice came from all around her. Only, she knew exactly where to look now. At the window. And sure enough, that's where the owner of that voice was.

"You know my name. None of this Subject-followed-by-random-numbers bullshit." Her eyes were narrowed on the pink-haired man as she growled this.

"The name you claimed was given to you by your human parents, no? Just as I, the one in charge of this experiment that will birth a new you, have chosen to call you Subject VLB-001. It's something you were given at birth, that does not distinguish who you are. What you believe in, how you look, any of that. It is simply what I have decided you are, as was the case when your human parents decided to call you Allina. You want a real name? Earn it, and I'll even let you pick what you're to be called…" His voice was utterly uncaring, and the level of disrespect she sensed in his decision to take her name away irritated her.

She went back to chewing up the remains of the hollow. Hours later, she was back to fighting. Back to eating hollows, dodging their attempts to eat her. Diving low and picking off the stronger ones while leaving the newest to eat and build up their strength, pinning those who dared to climb up the walls after her while she was having her meal and eating them next. If there were multiple, she would throw the weakest down randomly into the crowd and only take the most notable reiatsu source for food.

Eventually, she felt Grimmjow wander away, immediately relaxing. She couldn't help but notice that the occasional hollow would fire a cero, which burned the walls and even seemed to almost…dent it. _Hmm._ She filed that away in her memory for later reference. Assuming she didn't "burn out", anyway.

Something odd was bothering her though. Whenever she ate, or breathed, she would gain additional power. She could feel that energy welling up inside her very clearly. But…once it had built up inside her, a power at the center of her being took that power, split it apart, and enhanced it. This was leaving her with somehow twice the energy she'd originally taken in. Strange…it denied all logic, went against all the scientific laws that she'd come to know in human life. That you couldn't put more in than you got out, energy could not be created nor destroyed…somehow, on this weird spiritual plane, those laws were being negated. By something inside her? Was this the device Szayel was using on her, or some special ability she had?

Time passed immeasurably, people came and went. Hollows came at her in a steady stream. Some seemed to give up, laying half dead on the ground. Everyone, it seemed, was covered in bite marks, half-eaten, struggling for life. It was then when she realized something strange was happening. The hollows stilled, and the stream abruptly ended. The bonds holding together each being in the room were beginning to shatter, all the hollows losing form, becoming glowing embers of blue that floated about. Al - or Subject whateverthefuck, if that was what she was to be thought of now - found that even she was losing her form. Disintegrating, feeling like she was merely a disembodied mind. A strange, irritating tugging came, and she found herself crowded together with many other disembodied minds. Fighting with them, being surrounded in darkness. Feeling some solidity once again, but she couldn't control it. That solidity was twisting, writhing, lengthening, stretching…she felt a hole form even in it, felt spikes poke through it, a mask trying to form but…not, as though it were waiting for something.

It was then that she got the notion that she was actually able to shove at these other minds. And shove she did, only they began pushing back. Each one was battling, fighting upwards. It was like the mayhem on the ground with the hollows all over again, only she was down in it, fighting, clawing, screaming. She was making some headway though, and slowly she began forcing herself ahead of the others. Finally, the mask began to form. The darkness fell away, and the other minds, which had fought her before, were now trying to simply blend with her. Instead of blending, she devoured them. It was an odd sensation, and she found that she still felt incomplete at the end, but she managed. And then she was towering in the room, far higher than even the largest hollow had been. She found that this body was…far more clumsy. Not only that, but she was barraged by the voices still, their emotions, their thoughts, their memories…and she slowly realized that hers were disintegrating. Not her will, her personality…but every time she thought of her family, they lost detail. She couldn't remember who her friends had been. She couldn't remember how old she'd been, or how her brother had looked. Wait...she had a brother? _Ridiculous._

"How are you feeling?" A voice interrupted her dwindling thoughts, and its head turned, mouth slowly opening as it howled. Took a slow, bumbling step forward, head turning again. The source of that voice remained undeterminable. A chuckle crackled around the large hollow next. "Hungry?"

Hungry?_ What is…hungry?_ The Menos Grande's attention was drawn from the fragmenting thoughts a moment later as the wall in front of it slid away. Stepping forward were several large black creatures, all with the exact same features, from the curl-toed white feet, to the hole in the middle of their bodies, to the spikes running through their necks and the masks over their faces. They were…boring. In that moment, the Menos knew that it was, in fact, hungry. Had something asked it if it was hungry?

"Dinner, Subject." A crackling, gleeful voice once again distracted the monstrous creature, though it was still not as large as those coming into the room. It didn't remember about them until they took another, thunderous step. In response, Subject lumbered forward, mouth already opening for the first bite. It somehow knew they would taste good. Hoped they would fill the emptiness, stop the hunger. Taking that first bite, it chewed, swallowed, waited for relief to come, in whatever small amount it was. It never came, and so the Menos took another bite. And another. The hollow it was biting into fell, and the Menos followed it to the ground, continuing to eat.

The others stood around the two hollows, howling, turning, disturbed by the event unfolding in front of them, but unable to think of anything to do about it. As though they needed some form of direction, to be told what to do, or they couldn't respond to what was happening. _How…pathetic_. Subject knew this to be pathetic, even if it could only hold and remember that opinion for a few seconds at best. Wait…Subject?_ Hm…_

The Menos straightened, began walking towards the nearest Menos. The next target. _So…hungry…_

Neliel stood in the shadows of the laboratory, watching the Gillian eating the others. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Grimmjow rest his head in his hands and sigh, the sound full of boredom. Violent man that he was, this slow killing had to be putting him to sleep…or making him want to dirty his own hands up a bit. Meaning, there'd be a slaughter soon. Grimmjow was just too violent and restless. A wild animal dressed up in clothes, pretending for the civilized to be as domesticated as they were. The insane gleam in his eye gave him away though. And how merciless he was in fights. And how impulsive he was.

It was surprising that instead of storming off in search of a fight, he was still sitting here. He had to be dying of boredom, though. Neliel shook her head and shifted her weight from her left foot to the right. He was acting weird. Well, aside from the Hollows he recently chose to sic on an unsuspecting group of Shinigami in training. _That_ behavior wasn't so abnormal for him.

With a sigh, she wandered outside, beckoning Pesche and Dondochakka with a crook of her finger before heading for her palace. Nel would go ahead and enjoy a cup of tea. It wasn't until the familiar walls of her halls and rooms surrounded her that she began to feel at ease, though. Unlike the other Espada, the palace she kept was more house-like. Comforting. Low ceilings, well-lit halls, perfectly decorated with portraits, vases of flowers, dressers, desks…wallpaper covered the walls instead of them being left as plain stone.

She…liked it better this way. It was calming, welcoming, instead of winding, dark, and eerie. Deep, confusing, and colorless. True, the colors she'd picked to decorate with were all pale pastels, but it was ten times better than any of the other palaces. Walking in here almost felt the same as walking into any decently-decorated house in the human world. That was the intent, what her aim had been. Neliel couldn't have lived in one otherwise. No sleeping, and there certainly was no way she could've gotten a cup of tea down. Here, though, she could relax.

She walked into a sitting room, reclining in a chair. After a few moments, Dondochakka and Pesche were coming into the room with a kettle in hand. Poured three cups, dropped two lumps of sugar into one that they handed to her after stirring, and then sat back as well. Nel swished the liquid around in the teacup, gazing at it. "So…" She took a sip, felt the sweet liquid slip down her throat, heat and vibrance seeming to radiate through her and sighed. _This was so nice_… But, mind on the task at hand.

Her eyes flicked open, and she looked to her fracciones. "What do you believe will be the results of this little experiment?"

"I don't know. Seems she's made it through the iffy point. That, or something else came out on top. But we aren't dealing with a completely mindless entity in that room like what usually happens when a Menos forms. I saw the screen readout, and it was pretty clear that we almost lost her. At the very least, her memories are definitely gone, and right now the creature appears to have the memory of a goldfish." (Goldfish can't remember what they did three seconds ago, just by the way.) Pesche shrugged. Dondochakka remained silent, tapping his mask and hmmmm-ing.

Neliel sighed. "I don't suppose there's any way to tell if the base soul we put in is the same one we're getting out. That's actually disappointing. Means we can't pick loyal, strong souls to do this to and expect that to still be what we get out. Unless we handpicked and created every last hollow we used in the process…"

"No way! That would be too tedious. Who has time for that?" Pesche slammed his hands on the coffee table, clearly forgetting he had a cup of tea in his hand. It shattered, spilling the liquid all over the wood. "Oh! I'm sorry."

"It's not a problem." Neliel smiled. Her opinion on this was the exact same. She certainly couldn't see herself taking the time to hand select who and what would be mixed in for hollowification and Vasto Lorde creation. Szayel had brought this girl out of impatience, had even overlooked her abilities instead of experimenting on her for that. He could've gotten another specimen for the hollowification process, after all. Or perhaps it was the fact she possessed those powers that made him so much more intent on proceeding. Maybe it made him more certain some part of her would survive becoming a Menos, and he wasn't willing to risk the chance of destroying her soul on a detoured project. Maybe he just didn't care. There was no telling with him.


	8. Chapter 8 : Reintroductions

The bottom blade of a scythe in the shape of two crescent moons back-to-back drug behind him, cutting a deep thin trail through the sands. Nnoitra's black hair swayed with each step, his long legs carrying him in the direction of his palace. He found himself for once somewhat happy. That damned woman Neliel who somehow outranked him was off his back at the moment, too distracted by the experiment as most of the Espada were. In other words, she was off his back.

He smiled, lips pulling back to reveal his seemingly too-large teeth. Soon, he'd be rid of her for good. That was, if Szayel kept his damned word. It seemed the mad scientist was willing to do anything to earn his placement back among the Espada, and as long as he helped get rid of Nel, Nnoitra had no problem lending him a hand with that. Surely, what Szayel was working on in secret would be as weighty in his favor as what he was working on in public to cover the first project up. He just had to finish them up. The secret project, Nnoi had no problem helping test out. The other project, there really wasn't much Nnoi could do. Unless he went and started catching strong hollows for Szayel to throw into the chamber where that little brat was being held. Or whatever was left of her. And he wouldn't do that, simply because there was no guarantee he'd bring any of them back alive.

Besides, he hated that Allina. She called him Radarhead instead of his real name. Even though he'd told her to call him Nnoitra. Several times! Apparently Radar-Head was easier to remember since he was "wearing a satellite". She was as bad as Neliel when it came to irritating him. Like they thrived on disrespecting him. Stupid women needed to learn their place, and fast.

A little concsiousness came flooding back to Allina, and she clawed her way up out of the darkness. This was…breaking her down, even as it strengthened her. The darkness was eating away at her, trying to create something new while obliterating all that she was. She still had that strange ball of energy within her, and got the feeling it was helping her fight. The darkness was clawing back at her, crowding, and she was only vaguely aware that she was still operating the enormous body that she was somehow jammed inside of. That darkness, she knew, was inside her, formed of all the other personalities she'd absorbed in an attempt to maintain control. That clawing, destroying darkness was inside her, yes, but it was also surrounding her. Flowing in her veins yet coating her skin. Creating a new her yet destroying her all the same.

She was clinging desperately to an image of a pretty blonde girl with black streaks on either side of her face, wearing glasses. Al couldn't remember that girl's name anymore, could barely remember her own and had no idea what she looked like, and felt like if she let this memory slip away, she was going to lose everything. Had lost everything. With the destruction of that last memory, she would cease to be. So she was having some strange, double or triple sight.

First, the creature her body was eating, though she could barely see through those eyes at the moment. She could still vaguely hear the howls of more, though none of them ever made an attempt to interfere in the consumption of their friend. _Friend?_ What a strange word, it seemed…_what is a friend?_ That girl in her mind, she was so desperately clinging to the memory of? That strange darkness, working to overwhelm her with the power she herself was gathering? The ball of light at the center of her soul, fending off each attempt to wear down what little was left?

What would happen if she lost this struggle? Would Al fade? Would this whole process end? Why was she even doing this? _Hmm…_ Perhaps, when she lost this struggle - no, _if_ she lost this struggle - then something new would happen. Maybe she'd finally move on to become whatever these other blending minds were pushing for.

If she had a face, she would frown. These blending minds…they were becoming nothing but feral instincts, clawing at her, trying to force her to join them. Perhaps she could dominate them, force them to stop this. What would happen if she finally took full control? She faced the darkness, gripping the energy she'd just been staving off these other parts of what contributed to the formation of the creature she now was at the head of. It was worth a try…

Szayel peered at the readout on the monitors. According to some of the data, there appeared to be some form of an internal struggle going on within Subject. There was a single soul in control of the body, but there still seemed to be an ongoing battle to assimilate that one soul into the whole beast. _If that happens_…He ground his teeth together.

Straightening, he walked over to a different set of monitors, hitting a few buttons. What was left of the soul in control of the entity still appeared to be fighting, so perhaps he could lend it a hand. Just this once, and then he would sit back and watch. He was hesitant to do anything though, for fear he would accidentally help with the full assimilation instead. It would do no good for him to have to terminate Subject because of his own doing.

"What?" The irritated voice filled his ears, and he glanced back to see Grimmjow standing behind him. Szayel shrugged lightly.

"A mild setback. Things are not progressing as smoothly as I'd hoped for Subject. Nothing that can't be fixed, of course." He hoped. To have to turn around and go right back out to the World of the Living for another test subject…and the worst part about this was the fact he had been very public about this project. So if it failed, he couldn't simply cover it up. To have to admit that his first attempt had been unsuccessful would be humiliating.

"Allina not doing so well in there?" He heard Grimmjow start walking away, grinding his teeth together. _Allina._ That name should not have been used, Lord Six should have called the creature Subject. He was there for when he'd first introduced the change, after all. But Szayel didn't dare actually try to correct the Arrancar, simply returning the death glares he'd received at the time of the name-changing. Perhaps the name was being used to spite him, because while he _could_ deny the name directly to Subject, who likely didn't even remember it at this point, he couldn't enforce that with the Espada. Not without risking having his head smashed in retaliation for his impudence. Even if he gained an Espada rank, he wouldn't have the right placement to say a word to Grimmjow, because he would still be opening himself up to attack.

_Wouldn't_ he?

Three months had passed since she'd become a Menos. Three months, and there were still _'difficulties'_ and _'mild setbacks'_ in the evolution. He'd imagined that by now she would have advanced to an Adjucha state, with all the accelerators that were being used on her and the constant power feed she was being exposed to. But no. Instead, she was still a goddamn Menos Grande. And Szayel wouldn't say for sure if she was due to evolve into the next form yet. His answers were just, _"Maybe,"_ and _"Soon."_ But _it never happened_.

Grimmjow stood leaning against the wall, at the window, watching as she ate what was close to her thousandth hollow. Watching as nothing happened. He ground his teeth together, growling. _Change, damn you!_ He shouted mentally to the creature. His tapping increased, muscles knotting up as he tensed, irritation rising another degree. When a hand landed gently on his shoulder, he spun, teeth bared, elbow slamming out to strike whoever dared to touch him.

He saw pale green hair, but didn't slow. Which, apparently, had been perfectly damn fine, because she grabbed his arm with ease and forced him to stop, only taking one step back to lessen the force on her. Damned Neliel, just loved to show up. He didn't do anything about the level of anger in his voice when he snapped at her. "What?"

"Calm down. There's no need to get so worked up over a hollow." Her tone of voice was the same, soft, unworried tone she always used with everyone. Those gentle eyes looking at him like he was less, weaker, something to be coddled and protected…He knew she meant well, but that didn't stop his irritation from rising more. With Szayel, with her, with the hollow in the chamber behind him. With the fact she'd been allowed to walk in here, with the fact she'd touched him, spoken to him. Looked at him as though she were somehow stronger. He was not inferior, damn it!

"Why don't you go annoy someone else, woman? I'll do whatever the hell I want." He pivoted on his heels, knowing he had nothing to fear from the green-haired wench. He pressed his hand to the glass that stood between him and the room Allina was in. Or whatever was left of Allina. Did she even remember her name? Probably not. She also wouldn't remember him.

Which was fine. It didn't really matter if she remembered or not. It just would've been nice not to have to go through introductions all over again. He could try not to have a headache repeating himself, though. Try. Nnoitra might finally convince her to call him by his name, too.

Grimmjow grinned. Or, she might still call him Radar-Head. Their interactions were hilarious, though he was positive that once she wasn't safely tucked away behind glass, she'd be done for if she didn't use his proper name. Grimmjow would've done the same thing, but she'd stopped calling him 'Good Kitty' willingly enough. Now he was just 'Grimmy'. Or 'Blue.' He wasn't sure he liked the second one much, but it didn't really annoy him, either.

. . .

His eyes snapped open suddenly as he heard the sound of clapping. His legs were folded under him, and he sat propped against a wall, with his forehead pressed against the glass of the window. Aside from the clapping, he did not hear anything else. _Did something happen_? Grimmjow shifted, turning his head to look into the room. His eyes slowly began to widen, and he looked towards Szayel. "How long was I out for?"

Feathers of black and white flowed out from behind the mask of the creature like the war crown of an Indian chief. No eyes were visible, the mask having a visor where it seemed they should have been. Horns stretched from its head, and its body seemed humanoid, yet oddly stretched and thin, covered in what looked like the same material that formed its mask. Where that wasn't visible, beautiful and thin white feathers covered its body and almost resembled fur. Wings were tucked behind its back, covered in those same feathers, and from the arches of those wings protruded horns. It sat back on its haunches, seeming to gaze calmly into the window at the two Arrancar present, in spite of the fact it could not see them. A hole ran through the very center of its being, not quite in the area of the stomach but also not in the area of the chest. The hole was in between those two places. Aside from its eyeless appearance, the mask most closely resembled a dragon's head.

The reason it - she - seemed to gaze directly at them was because in a way, the hollow could see them. The visor made up for her lack of eyes, radiating small amounts of reiatsu outwards, which bounced off of everything and came back to her, telling her what her surroundings were. She had a reiatsu-based sonar, but she could also sense their presences, smell them, hear their every breath…

Realizing she had both of their attention, Subject rose and began walking on four legs to them, previously unseen tail swishing out behind her, covered in hundreds more of those too-thin, lengthy feathers. Beat her wings once, twice, then simply spread them as far as she could, stretching them while she stretched her body in a catlike pose and yawned. Then, Subject began running over to the window, talons clicking noisily against the stone floor, even as it burned from her touch, the reishi being absorbed into her being. She touched the snout of her mask to the glass, but it resisted deformation and she snorted, laying down. Even like this, with her head resting on her crossed forelegs, she was almost larger than they were tall. Standing on all four, she was five times the size of a horse. Silent, though she could have said something. Simply breathing, resting calmly, waiting for them to be the first to speak. And, if they did not, that was perfectly fine by her. She'd just find some way in there to eat them._ To pass up so clearly delicious a meal would be a crime, indeed._


	9. Chapter 9 : Changes

"What will you call yourself now?" The voice of the man claiming to be Subject's father invaded her sensitive ears. She had apparently won a real identity in his eyes by reaching the level of an Adjucha. Several others stood around; a strange tall and extremely slim man with a scythe chained to him, a wavy-haired lady, a small woman with curly pigtails wearing a dress and carrying some sort of enormous yo-yo being just a few among their ranks…

"Alutiereina." The voice was not hers. It was too hard, filled with irritation. Practically a growl. She turned her head towards the voice, 'seeing' a tall, muscled figure of a man with a hakama and open jacket on. His hair was in spikes. At the interruption, her 'father' sputtered, beginning to protest. She tilted her head, cutting him off.

"I like that…" Her voice was as strange as she felt. The man who named her had been the one to introduce himself as Grimmjow, though he'd given her permission to call him Kitty while grinning wildly. If she dared. She though that part of his introduction had been funny, because it sounded like he'd meant for her not to call him that. Perhaps that was it. So. Alutiereina. Big name, and she'd wear it as proud as the guy who gave it to her. "But…let's have Lurina as a nickname. That's Alutiereina, with a few random letters cut out."

"Fine." Szayel snapped, pivoting on his heel and walking back through the window. Retreating behind the glass, eh? Pathetic. Most of the others followed them out, until the only ones who still stood in the large chamber was her and Kitty. And yes, she'd elected to call him Kitty, even though she clearly wasn't really supposed to do any such thing. "Well, Rina, back to work. We're not done yet, you're only an Adjucha."

With a shrug of his shoulders, Kitty began to turn and walk off too. Alutiereina popped to her feet and spread her wings, circling around Grimmjow to get between him and the window. Her tail was swishing quickly back and forth, tips of her feathers brushing repeatedly against the glass that stood between her and the other on looking Arrancar who'd already stepped beyond her reach. He stepped to the side, and she mirrored him. When Grimmjow once again attempted to step around her, she hopped in front of him and kicked out a clawed hand to paw at him. She was actually feeling…playful? She realized she wasn't actually trying to hurt him, otherwise she would've angled her claws in, swung harder. But no, she was just trying to play. Odd, even to her.

He'd disappeared just as the dull side of her talons connected with him, so she barely felt the touch, reappearing above her with one foot swung out to drop kick her in the head, but she rolled out of the way before quickly popping to her feet and moving back between him and the window. She couldn't help but notice that while he could have easily crushed her skull then, he'd held back, slowed just enough from a far enough distance for her to 'see' where he was and dodge.

It was then that she had the idea that even if the blow had landed, there probably wouldn't have been much damage. Grimmjow was playing, too. The speed of her swishing tail increased with her excitement, and she leapt at him with a howl, swinging out her leg again. A backhand motion, like the first time, trying not to hit him with the sharp parts of her talons that would have eaten away at his reiryoku and began weakening the bonds between the reishi that composed his body.

Kitty dodged, and Alutiereina concentrated some energy into one of the horns protruding back from her head, creating a long golden whip. She then did a quick neck roll, swinging the whip at him. He clearly hadn't expected that, because next thing Grimmjow knew he had a long cord of golden light wrapped around him. He then did something she hadn't expected any more than he'd expected that trick, raising his reiatsu enough that any more would have floored her and effectively destroying her rope.

When it ended, she jumped up. "Hey, jerk!" She spun, swinging her tail out at him, and he let it hit him, propelling straight through the window and landing against the far wall beyond her reach. He clearly hadn't really been affected much by either the reiryoku draining feathers or the strike itself, because she hadn't heard any air rush from his lungs as her tail impacted his gut, even as his body bent around it. And, instead of sliding to the floor and moaning in agony, unable to move, he smacked against the wall, bouncing easily off and onto his feet, standing straight and crossing his arms over his chest as his bright blue eyes stared out at her. There wasn't even a crack in the wall from impact.

"Listen to your…" A look of annoyance passed his face as he clearly tried to think of what to say. "…father, Al."

She tilted her head. Al? Then watched as he strode from the room, sitting back on her haunches with her back still to the window, simply turning her head to look over her shoulder. "What do you want me to do, then?" Her voice was resigned. She didn't get to play anymore.

Szayel watched as the Espada and a few normal Arrancar trickled out of the room, breathing a slow sigh of relief. Any longer, and Lord Six was about to explode with his impatience, he was sure of it. He'd been sure to send out a message to all those observing the experiment that each evolution took a greater amount of time, even with the devices he had working in their favor. Hopefully, that would buy him more time. Assuredly, Subject - ehh, Alutiereina - couldn't have evolved at a better moment.

His other project was nearly done as well, meaning Neliel's time here was quite limited. He had pulled Nnoitra aside before seeing to reintroductions with the female hollow and informed him that he could be free of the beauty with the pale green hair before the week was out if things continued to progress as they currently were. And since the lab practically monitored itself, he didn't have to worry about anything if he should excuse himself for a while in order to continue working. In fact, he thought he just might do that. Surely, the ability to force even an Espada to their knees or daze them would be quite useful in the eyes of Aizen. Useful enough to overlook the fact he was now without one. Not that he wouldn't very soon be able to replace her with ease. Hopefully.

Now, it was time to set up for Nel's defeat at Nnoi's hands. As hollows were once more fed into Alutiereina's room, he strode out of the lab, down the hall to a different chamber. This one informed him of the locations of Neliel, Pesche, and Dondochakka, through tracking dye he'd placed in tea they'd consumed some time ago. The signals were fading accordingly as they wore out of each Arrancar's system, but he still knew where they were. One, shadowing Neliel, and another was already at her palace. Most likely, the shadow was Pesche while Dondochakka was looking after their 'home'. The entire place should have been home to them, but no. They only called their personal Espada palace home. The rest of it was Las Noches within Hueco Mundo. But, he supposed it made sense. Instead of claiming every grain of sand under their feet as belonging to them, they simply claimed their own personal grounds where they could deny entrance to others if they so pleased - and if they were strong enough.

-Two Year Time Skip (I got lazy)-

Grimmjow walked briskly down the hall, hands in his pockets. It had been two years, one month, and seven days since the disappearance of Neliel. A week later, Szayel was reinstated as an Espada by Aizen himself, so impressed was he by the two experiments he'd been presented with. Aizen had also been disappointed by Al's clear disdain for him, which had not faded with the rest of her memories. A hatred that transcended the death of all memories, almost the entirety of who she was…that was commendable, even as it boded ill for her. Al, who'd become a Vasto Lorde. Al, who today had become an Arrancar. He hadn't seen her yet, but he'd heard plenty. While Aizen had found a way to break the boundary between Hollow and Shinigami, that way had slipped right out from under his nose, courtesy of one of the other Captains who also excelled in the Sciences. Though, Aizen had decimated the number of captain-level shinigami in this venture, and still managed to keep his place by pulling the wool over the eyes of the entire Seireitei. Also commendable. Though the knowledge had for some reason seemed to deepen Al's dislike of him. The menace and distrust she radiated at Sosuke was unbelievable.

Did she fear that the Arrancar, too, would be betrayed? Grimmjow shook his head. He wasn't even sure where she was being kept now. He'd stopped by the lab room where she'd spent the last two and a half years of her existence for the last week, but there was a different person in there now. She'd been moved, and he wasn't really sure where. No one mentioned her location to him. If he had to ask…

He growled. That was probably it. They wanted to see how long he could go before asking to see the results of that lengthy experiment for himself. Or maybe they just thought he'd destroy her in an attempt to have some fun. Though if they were afraid of him seeking fun, the Espada should have been hiding right now, since they were the only ones who could put up a good enough fight, at least that he knew of. Did they instead fear for little Al?

Grimmjow shook his head. No, that wasn't it. His eyes fixed on a reiatsu signature ahead of him, which felt familiar even though he was positive he'd never seen the person before. She had on a white shift that lightly hugged her figure, a black strap of leather sat on her hips and held up a sword. The sword itself appeared to be a saber, the metal a polished, shimmering silver and the saya it rested in being black. Rising through that black was a winged dragon. She had eyes like pale rubies, wide and almost worried-looking. A small nose, pouting lips…she looked calm, yet at the same time on the verge of tears. An oval shaped face. Pale wavy locks of snow cascaded over her right shoulder, the tips a faint blue, and flowers were threaded into the hair. She had a tall, lithe dancer's body. Reaching almost the whole way up her arms were gloves that ended in V's to her middle finger on either hand. Feathers extended from her arms, making them almost wing-like, and the gloves allowed for it, thin strings simply connecting both sides of the glove by reaching tediously between each feather. Horns extended from her head.

Before he could react to her presence, since he'd barely felt her at all - that's how low the girl had her reiatsu - the girl strode quickly up to Grimmjow, running her fingers through his hair and patting him on the head, grinning. He smacked at her, but she twirled and danced just out of reach, giggling. "Good kitty!"

Grimmjow frowned. Good kitty? Oh, really? Then he noticed something. "You're barefoot."

"Well, yeah. I couldn't figure out how to put those shoe thingies on." She smiled awkwardly, that I'm-about-to-cry look never fading from her face, and rubbed the back of her neck. She then frowned down at her small feet, and he could have sworn he saw her eyes watering. How could anyone look so sad? She glanced up at him and tilted her head to the side. "It's me. Alutiereina."

Figured as much. "Of course. No one else calls me Kitty. But I am not a good kitty, as you'll learn soon enough." Grimmjow started walking, and still facing him, Al began walking as well. Backwards. She wobbled, but managed to stay upright. Went up on her tiptoes even, holding her arms out to either side of her, and started bouncing with each step. Spun once, stumbling and nearly falling. His hand latched onto her in order to steady Al, and then he quickly strode past her. "Learn how to walk, woman."

"Learn how to talk, _boy._" He scowled, listening to her giggles behind him. He heard her faint footfalls behind him, slightly louder and quicker before abruptly stopping, and then something soft and light slammed into his back, arms wrapping around his neck. The giggling was in his ears now. He growled lowly, and the giggles faded, ending in a sigh. The arms came out from around his neck, and the warm pressure moved away from him. The young woman spoke again, the boredom - and sorrow that matched what he'd seen in her eyes - filling her voice. A voice that was full of the pout that he couldn't see on her face. "You're no fun, Kitty…"

"Fun?" He smiled back at her, watching her eyes widen at his expression, seeing the shiver that overtook her body. That was a normal response, he knew. Every Arrancar in Las Noches had looked at Grimmjow in that way. He slowly turned on his heels and walked towards her, but slowed a little as her expression changed.

Alutiereina's pale red eyes had narrowed, lips pressing together into a thin line as she stepped forward, raising her hand and slapping him across the face. He allowed the strike, distracted by the fluid grace of her movements and the simple fact that she had dared to strike him. Before he could respond, she'd disappeared into a sonido, and he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. Any of the other Espada would have probably chased her down and punished her for the behavior. Hell, he would've taken it as a challenge and been on her heels in the next instant. Grimmjow realized he didn't care. He tapped his cheek where the quickly fading sting was and walked off, wiping the girl from his mind. _She is just proof of a successful experiment. Weak, unworthy of my time or effort. I have to leave her for Aizen to decide whether we can use her or not._

_Stupid women… _He stood for a second, tilting his head back with his eyes closed, simply breathing. Sensed a garganta opening, but didn't sense Aizen, Gin, or Tousen, and therefore disregarded it. Sensed Nnoitra wandering the sands within Las Noches. Szayel pacing within a room, clearly upset. A few other presences, but he knew for sure that Nnoitra would give him what he wanted at that particular moment. Placing his hand on the pommel of his Pantera, he sauntered down the hall, eyes narrowing. He was already more than prepared for a fight. As he ran his tongue across his teeth, he burst into a sonido, zeroing in on his fellow espada.


	10. Chapter 10 : Oops!

Her garganta opened in the World of the Living, something that Szayel had shown her about. Apparently, that's where he'd taken her from. And yes, she thought of him as Szayel, not her dad. As Grimmjow had informed her, the man had aided in the betrayal and downfall of a woman who had been his superior officer. Alutiereina wasn't sure why he'd been rewarded and not reprimanded. She now had a great dislike for Szayel, and so even though she was supposed to be helping him out in his stupid lab experiments, she'd chosen to skip out. That was when she'd run into Grimmjow, who seemed immediately displeased by her presence. She'd gotten some amusement out of picking on him, but then had decided it was best if she left him be before he squashed her like a bug.

The cool wind blew against her face, running through her hair, caressed her legs gently, and her eyes closed, breathing a relaxed sigh even as she felt like she was suffocating. At the very least, standing in this air felt amazing.

She then glanced behind her for what must have been the seventeenth time, looking for Mister Kitty. Alutiereina had expected him to pursue her, especially after she'd slapped him. Instead, he'd let her go? Her hands itched, and she wanted to go back and slap him again. Though she feared the results of irritating the wonderfully muscled man, she didn't enjoy his neglect either. Bothering him would be no fun if he didn't blow up on her, threaten her…

Disappointed, she focused on the ground below. The air here was pathetic, somehow insufficient for breathing, but she stepped out anyway, drawing the sparse amount of reishi present under her feet just like the man who called himself her father had shown her. She found herself starting to lose ground though, realizing that the air was mostly lacking in that specific quality. Perhaps that was why she didn't like this air as much; she'd always inhabited a chamber that held high concentrations of spirit particles, and even outside of that cell the density of reishi in the air had been perfect.

Now, though…she was gagging. She turned her back, unwilling to proceed even though she'd spotted someone who looked like fun to pick on. A red-haired lady in a black kimono was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, patrolling the city she'd come to while its inhabitants slept. The person felt weak, too… It wasn't worth leaving the comfort of Hueco Mundo, as she'd decided. She sped back through the dark tunnel, forming a trail of spirit particles as she made her way back to the other end of the tunnel, stopping at the entrance of that as a blast of energy struck her.

It hadn't been an attack of any sort, it was pure reiatsu. Merely the spiritual pressure of two clashing forces, both perfectly familiar to her. It was Kitty and Radar. She sonidoed out onto a nearby building, staring down at the two. Neither of them seemed to be very serious just yet.

Grimmy was flipping over Nnoitra, who had his scythe in mid-swing. Grim's own weapon was in hand, and as he landed on the ground so that his back was to Nnoi's, he twisted and swung his Pantera out, gripping the handle with both hands and slicing for the center of the other's body. Nnoitra had been following Grimmjow with his eyes to the best of his ability, however, and when Grim disappeared from his view, he spun, bringing the scythe around into the path of Pantera. Sparks flew, and the sound of metal slamming against metal rang out, hurting Al's too-sensitive ears.

Another burst of reiatsu from the opposing Arrancar exploded outwards, and Alutiereina braced herself against the sudden winds it created, eyes closing. A hand pressed to her back, and she snapped her head to the side only to see a blonde crouched beside her, staring. "You shouldn't be so close, weak as you are." She waved her hand in his face, recognizing him as Tesla, Nnoitra's fraccion.

"Of all the people to give a damn. I'm fine." She sighed, returning her gaze to the fight in progress. Only, the blue-haired participant had suddenly disappeared, and Nnoitra was standing on the sands, annoyed gaze resting on…her? She blinked, then noticed something white out of the corner of her eye. She felt Tesla grab her and begin pulling her back, but it was too late. Grimmjow's fist slammed into the side of her head, knocking her sideways and off the red candlestick-looking building. Tesla, who'd grabbed on, was forced off as well, and they both were propelled toward the sands.

As she continued staring up at Grimmjow, who'd landed with his back nearly to both of them with his head turned to glare over his shoulder at her, specifically, he disappeared again, reappearing in front of her. His foot had already connected with her chest, increasing their speed as they fell, slamming into the sands with more force than she thought she could handle without breaking.

As the sands cleared, she slowly forced herself to sit up, rolling herself off of Tesla, who she'd landed on top of, spitting out some sand and shaking her hair out. She heard Grimmjow end another sonido and knew he was behind her. A moaning Tesla's pained glance over her shoulder confirmed that, and she bowed her head, eyes closing as she braced herself for another blow. Seconds passed, turned into minutes, but nothing happened. She opened her left eye slowly, tilting her head to the side. Turned to look over her shoulder at him. _I should spit on him…_ Grimmjow was still standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, muscles tense, glaring at her. The seemingly permanent angry set of his jaw was, for the first time, scary. Looking at him now, he really did seem mad. Why, she didn't know.

"Can I help you?" She narrowed her eyes, jumping to her feet and spinning to face him, chin raised. At least she didn't sound terrified or shaken, the way she felt. Did she look scared, though? As Grimmy's eyes narrowed further and he squeezed the handle of his weapon so tightly his knuckles turned white, she swallowed. "Nnoitra was your opponent. Do you have attention problems or something?"

He growled. Actually growled, and it was funny, bringing a smirk to her face. But then Nnoitra appeared behind him, not there one moment and then suddenly there in the next by moving in that infuriating way Al's inexperienced eyes couldn't track. He had his scythe suspended above Grimmjow. "That's a good question, woman."

Her pale eyebrows disappeared into her hairline._ He heard me? _As she watched, Nnoitra brought the weapon down at the same moment that Grimmjow disappeared - and the world got knocked out from around her, became nothing but a blur. She couldn't even see different colors, but was aware of something hard banded around her. She hadn't been struck by the looming blade, then, but grabbed. "Damn it, let go!"

She aimed an elbow where she was sure her captor's head would be. She was even sure she knew the bastard's name. That his hair was blue. Before she could land the blow, though, she was released, and went flying over the sands. Hit them, the impact so intense it rattled her and almost knocked her out. She bounced painfully off the sands as a trail of silver grains followed her, and a hard something grabbed her again. The world slowed and stopped, and she was released, immediately sinking to her knees before doubling over and gasping, pains shooting through her whole body.

Grimmjow kneeled on the sands, rolling Alutiereina onto her back and brushing her hair out of her face. Confusion now joined the irritation that had filled him the moment he'd spotted her and Tesla up on the top of the building, watching his fight with Nnoitra. She'd quickly become the target of his rage, opponent forgotten. Like every time he'd seen her, he was filled with the need to attack and hurt. Only, he'd never been in a position where he could attack her, specifically.

Al's chest rose quickly and fell again as she breathed in short, labored spurts, eyelashes fluttering before her head rolled to the side and she let her eyes close. Her skin was slowly darkening, bruises and cuts from his short-lived attack already covering her. He'd expected her to die from those few blows alone, whether her body specially reinforced by Szayel or not. Now, he knew it would take a bit more than what he'd just dealt to snuff her out. His blade was still in hand and perfectly capable of dealing that damage, but he didn't feel the need.

He instead flicked her, disturbing the woman again, and this time she did look at him. Slowly raised her hand and let it fall while still moving it towards him, landing against the same cheek she'd slapped earlier and then slipping down onto his lap before she pulled the hand back. He did nothing in response to the feel of her warm, soft hand against the side of his face, even as it reminded him of the faint sting she'd inflicted on him not too long ago. Didn't want to, though he suspected if she could've made it sting again, she would have. "I'd say that tickled, but I'd be lying."

She raised a brow and almost seemed to be starting to smile, the corners of her pale lips pulling up. Grimmjow grinned, continuing. "I barely felt that."

A smile did appear, and she laughed, a weak and quiet sound. "I'm gonna get you back for that. Just a heads-up." Then her head lolled to the side again, and her pale red eyes closed.

He heard the sound of two sonidoes ending, and could see two pairs of boots on the other side of her. The owner of one pair bent down, and as Grimmjow slowly raised his gaze, he once again saw Tesla, slipping his arms under Al to pick her up. His teeth ground together, eyes narrowing again. "Leave her." The blonde met his gaze calmly, maintaining eye contact as he pulled her onto his lap, lifted the white-haired female to his chest, and straightened before backing away. "Did you hear me? I said leave her."

Grimmjow jumped to his feet stepping towards him with Nnoitra forgotten, and Tesla glared at him. "I'm taking her to Lord Szayel. Now I believe you have a fight to finish, Grimmjow, and Master Nnoitra is losing his patience."

In the next instant, he disappeared just in time for a scythe to go sailing through where he'd been standing, and Grim brought his sword up. Slammed it against the scythe, the clang of metal meeting metal ringing in his ears as he jumped up and flipped over the crescent-shaped blade. Then he spun and embedded his own weapon in Nnoitra's side. Before he could drag the blade deeper, the other Espada disappeared into a sonido and ended the evasion technique with a kick to the back of Grimmjow's head, the force knocking the blue-haired man forward.

"What's wrong, Grimmjow? You're distracted." Nnoitra's manic laughter filled his ears. Grim heard the sound of air whistling over and under metal, and immediately knew that another attack was coming. He sonidoed around the Arrancar before jumping up above him, spinning horizontally to kick him upside the head in return. The strike landed, slamming the other man face-down in sand and putting an abrupt end to his laughter.

Grimmjow jumped back and watched as Nnoitra sat up, spitting sand from his mouth and shoving to his feet, turning to look over his shoulder at him. "You're pretty distracted yourself. Are you sure you should be laughing?"

Nnoitra turned and gripped his scythe before he pointed it at Grimmjow, raising his head by a small fraction. "I perfectly understand if you're caught up in a female. Just deal with her and get it out of the way. That's how things go." Grimmjow growled, and he smirked. "What? I'm a guy too. I can appreciate a pretty girl when I see one, even if I don't like the small and fragile type."

"You're starting to seem like the one who's hung up on her." Grimmjow sonidoed straight over the blades of the scythe, though he was knocked sideways when Nnoitra nailed him with them with a simple flick of the wrist. Grimmjow used his sword to block as much as he could and bounce off onto the sands a few feet away, but as he retreated out of immediate range the point of one of the crescents caught his arm, digging deep into the muscle until he was sure he'd even scratched bone.

"I'm not the one who saw her near another guy and dropped everything to try and split them. And that is what you did, Grimmjow. You completely forgot about our spar." Nnoitra slammed his scythe into the ground and darted forward empty-handed, throwing a punch for Grimmjow's jaw, then his gut, then dropped for a leg sweep. Grimmjow stabbed Pantera into the ground and blocked both punches before grabbing the hilt of his sword and flipped over it before jerking it towards him, slicing the leg Nnoitra used to swipe with in the process before drawing the blade from the sands.

"Because I want to kill her. You're the one speaking of lust." The blue-haired male turned and swung suddenly as Nnoitra lurched forward to start another attack, cutting the eye patch from his face. As the thin white material fluttered to the floor and revealed his hollow mask - and his hole - Nnoitra reached back and grabbed the chain that connected him to his scythe, yanking it and pulling the large weapon straight out of the ground.

Grimmjow jumped back and watched as Nnoitra started spinning it, the weapon blurring, beginning to look like multiple scythes instead of one. A grinning Nnoitra stepped forward, not allowing for an increase in distance. "Sure, sure. Then you shouldn't mind if Tesla has some fun with her, no?" Not allowing for a reply, he released the chain of the scythe and sent it flying at Grimmjow, who jumped out of the way and ran forward, scowling. The sound of metal against metal once more rang out.


	11. Chapter 11 : Shock?

Author message: Sorry for not updating in a while, got busy with school and such. I'm keeping it up with high b's and a's, so heck to the yeah and now I'm gonna keep on writin'. Hope you all enjoy, as the readers, because I certainly like to write it. (Having a hard time staying in character on some parts, would love some suggestions!)

Alutiereina drew in a slow, deep breath and yawned, arching her back. Her eyelids fluttered and she rolled onto her side, then pushed herself up into a sitting position. Pale satin sheets had been draped over her, and now slipped down to her hips, revealing lengths of smooth skin, a smooth thin neck, seemingly frail shoulders, and soft plump breasts. Her snow-colored hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, tickling the creamy mocha-and-cinnamon colored skin, unmarked by the scratches and bruises that she'd expected to wake up to. No aches assailed her, either. She popped out of bed, pale crimson eyes scanning the room as the cold stone floor kissed her small bare feet. She couldn't help but notice that her feathers were gone.

Al walked across the room, opened the door, and started to run out, but Szayel was standing there. He stuck out an arm and clothes lined her before dragging her back into the room, but not before Tesla looked up at her from his seat on a couch in the hall, red coloring his cheeks. Why?

"You can't go around without covering yourself first, Rina." Szayel said as he drug her over to the bed, shoving her onto it before quickly spinning to walk to a different door. He opened it and walked inside, the already familiar sound of metal sliding against metal as he sifted through those things called clothes that hung inside. "I know your mind is still too innocent to understand this, but if someone sees you without, they'll hurt you."

"I was covered last time, but it didn't stop Kitty from attacking me, now did it?" Al frowned. The clothes hadn't even done anything to reduce the damage he inflicted with each strike. And drop, the clumsy jerk… She stood anyway though, heading this time for a dresser and rifling through the first drawer for the gloves she would wear today.

"That's not what I meant…if you walk around naked, they'll hurt you in a different way." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man who called himself her father walk from the closet, and could tell his face had taken a slightly reddish tone. Why? As she listened, his footsteps echoed behind her, clothing rustled and something landed on the bed with a light puffing sound. She looked over her shoulder at the outfit that had been chosen for her and then Szayel, who glanced at her before heading for the door. "Now hurry and get dressed, your assailant unfortunately finished his little fight with enough health left to wander."

As the door shut, Alutiereina pivoted on her heel, leaning back against the dresser and pressing the drawer closed in the process, exhaling a sigh. She trapped a pale lock of hair between two fingers and began twirling it, shaking her head as she drew the fingertips of her other hand along the red marks that rode her hips, then up over her flat stomach to circle her navel. She then eyed the clothes with distaste. They were just…uncomfortable. Hugging her body too tight, rubbing her skin, wearing down her peace of mind. How the others could stand to go around covered in so much stuff, she wasn't sure.

Alutiereina pushed away from the dresser, going up on the tips of her toes as she took three steps towards the bed, then spun and did a graceful leap before jazz running to the bed and front flipping onto it. Her hair whipped around her, and she smiled. Almost didn't want to slip into those clothes, assuming that perhaps if she stayed in her room no one would bother her. But she still folded her legs under her as she sat up on the bed and pulled the fabrics towards her. Today's selection was apparently black leggings, a long dress like top with a huge slit riding all the way to the hip, the left side sleeved while the whole shoulder of the other was bare. Under that top was fishnet that clearly went underneath and sleeved both arms.

After slipping those items on, she walked to where her sword was, refastening it to her left hip before striding out of the room. Barefoot, again, even though a simpler shoe design had been waiting for her, because she wasn't sure if she could handle feeling completely crowded in these unnatural things. Something Szayel had called a bra and panties had been laid out for her too, but since they were even more uncomfortable than these other clothes… Let's just say both of the lacy white nightmares were still laying untouched on her bed, and she has absolutely no idea what the shredded cloth under her bed is.

She stepped out into an empty hall, since even Tesla was gone now. The walls were spaced at about two four-seater couch lengths apart, floor made up of shiny tiles that were so well polished they were almost reflective. An unreasonably high arched ceiling stretched above her. She had to admit, the place was lovely. The occasional sofa or small wooden table were nice sights, and several doors led off to unexplored rooms. She'd have to look around in them one of these days, but not today. Today, she had to pay back Grimmjow for the random and totally unearned attack.

He was stumbling around nearby, perhaps a few halls over. Behind some closed doors, she could feel other things wandering about as well. Strange things, moving in aimless patterns that made her think they were mindless, zombies ambling about in circles with no real purpose but to put one foot in front of the other. Something she was still having trouble with… Every so often she would stumble and have to throw her arms out to steady herself. How the others made it look so easy, she didn't know. But if she stood straight, leaning ever so very slightly back, she found walking was a lot easier.

After a few turns at the end of several hallways, a tall, muscled man with spiky blue hair stepped out right in front of her. Bruises and cuts covered him much in the way she'd expected them to cover her when she'd woken. It didn't lessen his appeal, even marring that tan skin, all those muscles… He walked normally, like the few wounds didn't affect him at all, even though she could smell blood on him. He'd been cut, she knew that. Quite a bit. His jacket was torn up, and revealed some of those wounds. Shocking gashes with some blood still trickling down, though his head was raised. Wounded and prideful…

She licked her lips, smiling as he continued by. As before, he apparently wouldn't notice her until she was practically right by him. She stepped forward, hurrying to keep up with him. One step for him, though, was the equivalent of three and a half or four for her, so she was having a hard time not making noise in catching up to him, though as she fisted her left hand and drew her arm back, she mentally begged him to notice and turn.

As if he heard those pleas, his head did turn, amazing blue gaze falling on her as he froze, and she struck, punching him in the face. His head spun around, followed by his body, but instead of collapsing to the ground he finished the spin so that when he stopped he was facing her. She threw another punch, but his fingers wrapped around her wrist with ease and squeezed, the pressure almost too much for her small bones, and she yelped. Yanked her hand away, stepping back even as he strode forward, keeping the distance instead of allowing her to lengthen it. Szayel was definitely so very wrong. Clothing does nothing to prevent people from attacking each other. She had punched Grimmjow while wearing them, just the same as she would have if she wasn't.

"You're a fast healer." Grimmjow's fingertips drummed the side of her face, and she waved his hand away, shaking her head before indicating his wounds with a flourish. She tried not to reel over the ease with which he'd crossed the little distance he'd allowed her to keep.

"And you, clearly, are not." She grinned and spun, dancing back on the balls of her feet again before tilting her head and tapping her chin, smiling as she looked him over. His pants were torn up too, it seemed. He was actually missing a shoe, and she could see burns on his foot. From Master Nnoitra? "So hey, have you seen Tesla anywhere?"

A growling Kitty stalked forward, grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her before pressing a hand to her back and pushing her toward the hall. But, his hand never left her back, and as she walked, he followed. He didn't answer her question, either. Was he mad? Cool. "Seriously. Have you seen Tesla?"

"No, and he better hope I never do." After that, they walked in silence through several halls. Past closed doors, the random lab rat Arrancar, strange machines left sitting in the halls, until Grimmjow gripped the back of her shirt and jerked her to a stop, spinning her as he stepped forward and shoved a door open. Inside stood her 'father', watching several monitors as Arrancar rushed about, all talking quietly at once, and she couldn't discern a single word. Szayel turned when he heard the door open, and Grimmjow shoved her into the room, glaring at the pink-haired man. "Keep your experiments on a leash. Next time one comes and attacks me, I'm killing it."

"Hey!" She spun, eyes widened at Grim's words. She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him, amused that they shared the expression of irritation. "Maybe next time you shouldn't randomly attack people. Besides, I told you I was gonna get back at you for that. Don't act like that one little punch was totally out-of-the-blue, Cat Boy, 'cause it's not."

She had more to say, but as a slow, crazy smile spread across his face, blue eyes flashing, the words fell off the tip of her tongue and ran away, throat closing around any slight choking as she tried to force something out anyway. His hand fell on her shoulder, gripping tight. Too tight, almost painful. "That's quite a mouth you've got, woman."

"Yes, well, I'm rather busy and don't have anything for Rina to do right now, so if you don't mind, go back to your room." She could feel Szayel's hand on her head, fingertips massaging her scalp, and she shook her head, turning to face Szayel and put her back to Grimmjow as though he was no threat. Well, mostly turned her back on Grimmjow. He was still gripping her shoulder, not releasing nor adjusting his arm to allow the movement. The more she tried to turn, the more his fingers dug into her shoulder blades, and she found that in the end all she could do was turn a little before glancing back over her shoulder at Szayel.

"I think I'm going to go wandering again, actually, father. If you don't mind." She looked back away from him though as his hand fell from her head, rolling her eyes. Whether he minded or not, she was going to wander . Hopefully without some mentally unstable blue-haired man's fingers digging into her shoulder the whole time. She looked up at him, filling her eyes and voice with cold, uncaring confidence. "Now, Grimmjow, if you don't mind. I'd like my shoulder back."

He laughed, surprising her as his hand fell away before he stepped aside. Now, nothing was between her and the door. She hadn't expected him to do as she'd requested. Especially since she hadn't been respectful about it. Then again, he didn't strike her as the respectful type, and so probably didn't care for manners. "Keep that up, and I won't be the only one wanting to crush your skull, little girl."

She walked by, raising her chin slightly as she continued giving him that cold look. "Who are you calling a little girl? That's like calling a panther a kitten." She only vaguely noticed that Szayel did not speak again.

Once in the hall, she noticed a man standing there glaring at her. He had blonde hair, and at first she'd thought it was Tesla. And then she realized the hair was long, the shade too light to be his. He had brown eyes as well, but they were narrower, his facial features sharper. A large horned mask fragment sat atop his head, and he wore a half-open jacket with an upturned collar. Like Grimmjow, he had on a white hakama. "You must be my brother's unsightly creation."

"And you must be a random asshole." She flipped him her middle finger before turning to walk off. She wasn't sure where the urge to do that came from, but it didn't stop her. She recognized the action as the insult it was intended to be. Booming laughter again filled her ears as Grimmjow followed her into the hall, holding up a hand to the angered blonde who'd immediately grabbed at his sword and began stalking forward.

They started arguing, but she didn't listen to what they were talking about. Just marched through the halls, looking for the exit to this crazy maze of a palace her father kept. It seemed like these halls went on forever. Perhaps they'd been looped, an attempt by her father to keep her from getting into trouble. She'd know if every door she opened led into her bedroom. Perhaps she should go back and trick Grimmjow into opening a door. Surely, he'd open a door straight outside, as she doubted Szayel wanted the overly impulsive man wandering the halls. Instead, she kept wandering - until she nearly ran headlong into an unbelievably tall man. Spoon-head, again, and she didn't have to look up at him to know that. Only thing was, he didn't have that outfit on today.

Skinny, as always, carrying around that ridiculously large chain scythe. Behind him stood Tesla, gazing silently at her. His face didn't redden upon spotting her this time. Again, why? Nnoitra moved, crouching down in front of her to look her in the eyes, and she met his gaze. "Yes?" This guy, she didn't want to irritate as much. The thought of him angry didn't amuse her.

"Yeah, what do you want, Nnoitra?" Al tossed a glance over her shoulder at Grimmjow. She hadn't heard him come up behind her, but he was there. Along with that blonde again, and a few others. Grimmjow's arms were crossed over his chest, the others simply standing there, arms hanging at their sides. Blondie tossed her a quick glare, and she smirked at him.

Nnoitra patted her head, causing her to look back to the smirking black-haired Espada. "Came to see our pet. She wasn't looking too good after your little tantrum, Six."

She smiled to him, even though she was sure he had no good intentions. This man was a proven traitor, just like her father, who'd enjoyed every minute of what he'd done. Such a person was not trustworthy. Given the choice between being used as a living soccer ball by Grimmjow or dealing with Nnoitra, she would have picked Grimmy. That wasn't even a joke, either. She'd rather be kicked around than talk the fifth espada.

"I can see you favor me no more than you do Aizen-sama." Nnoitra straightened and took a step away, though he was still grinning with those whale teeth of his. Ick. His hand skirted the handle of his scythe, and her gaze followed the action.

"Think to threaten me?" She frowned up to him, knowing perfectly well that anyone in the hall right now could crush her with ease. Of course, that obviously wasn't stopping her snippy comments. Instead of taking the situation seriously, she put a left hand on her hip and ran her right hand's fingers through her hair before flicking the locks over her shoulder, and waltzed around him, smiling again. "I'd love to play tag, but I'm not done exploring. Unless you boys would like to show me around."

Her voice had taken a light, amused tone. Joking, and she'd let that emotion claim even her eyes, though she left an edge in her voice which clearly stated that they were not, in fact, welcome to lead her anywhere. Grimmjow, maybe, since he actually seemed the least shady, but not any of these other strangers. She'd be busy enough trying to get rid of Kitty while looking around. She walked down the hall, aware that she was being followed but not looking to see who it was. Perhaps, if she ignored them, they'd give up and go about their own things.

She couldn't wait for these people to stop treating her like a shiny new toy. It was bad enough she was experiencing a severe case of New Girl syndrome. But, oh well.

Grimmjow walked calmly behind Alutiereina, waiting for her to acknowledge his existence. Which was funny, seeing as he was an Espada while she was just a weak little regular Arrancar, not even numbered. He was the only one who'd really attacked her yet, but somehow he was the only one that irritating - and yes, amusing - woman was not wary of.

His fraccion followed quietly behind him. Ylfordt already hadn't really liked the idea of meeting her, and the careless disrespect she'd shown him hadn't done a thing to change his mind. Disrespect that had been funny as hell, by the way. She'd even shown him the bird. The others seemed fairly amused as well. Of course, she wasn't the creation of _their_ snobby brother's. She was the creation of their _comrade's_ snobby brother, and therefore they had no personal reason to immediately despise her very existence.

Alutiereina - or Lurina, or just Rina, but whatever - knew he was following. He was positive of that. She'd almost looked back when he walked up behind her, but then stopped herself and simply kept walking without a word. Why, he wasn't sure. Irritating woman. He sped up until he was beside her, then slowed his steps so that he stayed directly to her right. Which, he found, meant nearly stopping altogether, her steps were just too short and slow. "You plan on ignoring me forever, woman?"

"Why are you following me, Kitty? I was under the impression you'd be busy murdering Tesla for whatever reason." Her voice was devoid of emotion, and when she looked at him, he saw that icy emptiness reflected in her eyes. Al's gaze flickered away, and she finally sped up. "Or is your fight still with me?"

He barked out a laugh. "All the chances I've had to kill you, and you're under the impression I'm still trying? If I wanted you dead, seriously dead, I could easily scatter your bones through the hall with one punch. Or slam your skull into a wall, crushing it."

"You should. You really should." Ylfordt. Oh yes, he definitely hated her. There was no joke in the man's tone, even though Grimmjow himself had still been laughing as he spoke. A joke met with such seriousness…and was that Alutiereina growling? He glanced at her, and sure enough, her hands were clenched into tight little fists, eyebrows drawn together, pale red eyes flashing in anger. She hadn't been so upset earlier, why now? Her lips were even drawn back in a scowl, showcasing sharp little white teeth.

"It was a joke, dickhead, get a grip." Dear Aizen. It was a low growl, her voice oddly raspy with her anger. And it seemed, with every passing second, she was only getting angrier. Now she was even reaching for her sword. Her pace slowed, and he found himself striding right past her, turning and seeing her back, watching her walking toward Ylfordt. Ylfordt, who stood his ground, glaring darkly down at her with his narrowed brown eyes. He did not reach for his sword, confident in his fists.

Before she was within range to attack him, he stepped forward and swung a fist out. Grimmjow took a step forward, intent on grabbing the blonde's fist and crushing it in his hand before realizing that was what he planned to do. Confused by the impulse, he frowned and watched as she ducked and twisted under the blow before slamming an elbow up into his gut.

Air rushed from the blonde's lungs as he clutched where he'd been hit, actually struggling for a moment to get his lungs working again. Before he could recover, Alutiereina had dropped to the floor, one leg kicked out, and spun to knock his legs out from under him. He dropped and laid there like a rag doll, eyes shut as he suddenly began moaning in pain. Pain that only seemed to be growing. More confused, Grimmjow stepped forward while the remaining men backed away. She shouldn't have been able to hurt him, and yet she'd dropped the man like it was nothing.

It wasn't until he'd nearly fell into the trap as well that he noticed the thin strands of gold seeping from the girl's pores. The air was humming quietly with the electric crackling of each too-small line, swaying in a gentle breeze no one could feel. He knew in that instant immediately why Ylfordt was down, because he was covered in those seemingly delicate strands! They wrapped around him, dug through his clothes, and pierced his skin, which was now beading with sweat. Ylfordt's reiatsu was dropping while Alutiereina's was growing.

He reached out to smack the strands away, but the ones he touched immediately attached to his hand, stretching as he jerked away and remaining slacked, flowing in their nonexistent breeze like fresh spiderwebs. His hand was suddenly on fire, like he'd been stung by a jellyfish, and that painful electrified feeling zipped up his arm and expanded through the rest of his body. Just like that, it was like the floodgates on his own reiryoku had been opened, and it was now pouring from him. He could feel where it was going, though. Could suddenly feel Al's body as though it was his own, could almost…damn, was he hearing her thoughts?

…_messed up…_

…_have to stop…_

Grimmjow growled, jerking away again, but again, the strands simply lengthened, holding tight, and his power continued draining. That pain was threatening to overtake him now, much the same way it seemed like it had claimed Ylfordt. His very mind was floating through the strands now. He felt a tugging, and as he opened his eyes - when had he closed them? - he saw some of the strands retracting into the now-shaking girl, curled up in the fetal position. But not the ones attached to him or Ylfordt.

…_cero…_

_Cero? _He frowned._ What does that have to do with anything? _He raised his hand, flicking a bala, and the now-tightening strands snapped, falling away. The ends that were stuck to him fell apart, and the pain began to dull. His power no longer drained out. He threw two more between the girl and Ylfordt.

When the strands fell away, they both gasped at the same time, bodies relaxing. Ylfordt's eyes flickered, and he rolled his head to the side while Alutiereina slumped to the ground. Both in relief, but for visibly different reasons. Grimmjow crouched next to the blonde, brushing his hair out of his face and waving a finger in front of his eyes, waiting to see if Ylfordt's eyes would follow the motion. He glanced over to Al, then put his arms under the blonde and lifted him before nodding at the girl and looking Di Roy in the eye.

The grayish-haired male stepped forward and picked her up, nodding. Shawlong walked to the closest door and opened it, sunlight trailing into the room. All of the Arrancar wandered outside, heading for Grimmjow's palace instead of remaining here in Eight's. They wanted to be the ones to deal with her, before her so-called father saw the footage and came to run most likely fatal tests of his own on the girl, disregarding their orders to keep her alive in order to satisfy his own curiosity about what had just happened.

While walking, he glanced over at the girl in his fraccion's arms, who was mumbling as her head turned slowly from side to side, as though shaking it in denial or trying to make sense of what had just happened. When he noticed the moist trails that led down her face from her eyes, he looked away. Tears were unacceptable.


End file.
